State lawmakers left tens of thousands of Missouri residents facing big debts by failing to pass a seemingly popular measure to stop the state from clawing back mistaken overpayments of unemployment benefits.
The General Assembly’s session ended this month about four hours early because of a fight over abortion, blocking the measure to waive unemployment debts. The Kansas City Star reports that roughly 46,000 people could be affected. The department suspended most collections in April as lawmakers discussed their debt-forgiveness measure.
Department officials haven’t said whether they’ll resume. Meanwhile, Parson’s administration and business leaders blame extra unemployment benefits provided by federal government for employers being unable to attract workers.
