Wolf: Senate reason for lack of action on funding “cockamamie”

   

(Harrisburg) — Governor Tom Wolf is dismissing the state Senate’s reasons for not passing a bill that would have extended a line of funding to Pennsylvania’s unemployment compensation call centers.

Some Senators opposed the bill because they said it should have been handled four years ago.

Governor Tom Wolf called that a “cockamamie” excuse for ignoring a technical bill that will have a real impact on Pennsylvania workers.

He told Radio PA’s Ask the Governor program he feels burned by this move.

“I think we ought to feel burned. I think elections have consequences and we’re seeing some of the consequences of the people we voted for,”  he says.

Senate GOP spokeswoman Jenn Kocher has said Wolf is using the chamber as a scapegoat, and also said that she sees the immediate rash of layoffs as a political move.

“This is just another instance of the governor using employees as pawns,” she told WITF, adding, “to get these people through to the beginning of the year when we come back into session and could work on this would take less than 15 million dollars.”

Because the legislature failed to authorize the funding, the Department of Labor and Industry is laying off about 600 employees.

The notice was sent out last week.