Maine: Where It Pays to Sit at Home

Did you see the news that Janet Mills is paying folks on unemployment to up to $1,500 of taxpayer dollars just to go back to work?

That’s right, despite the majority of Maine businesses in desperate need of workers, Janet Mills feels the need pay people to go back to work.

Sounds crazy right? That’s because it is. For nearly a year, workers who were laid off due to the pandemic received “advanced unemployment benefits”, giving them an extra $300 per week in their unemployment checks. Now as nearly all Maine businesses are desperately looking for workers just so they can operate, these benefits are continuing, resulting in Mainers on unemployment not wanting to return to work.

For anyone who has traveled anywhere in Maine, you know that nearly every place from Kittery to Fort Kent is hiring. I’ve spoken to businesses who can’t even open because they can’t get workers off the couch and into the workplace because they can’t compete with the “free money” being shelled out by Janet Mills.

The short and long term impacts of this botched recovery will be severe, and the need to pay abled bodied Mainers $1,500 just to show up to work is creating a dangerous culture here in Maine and promoting living on the dole.

To all the Mainers who worked through the pandemic, or who went back to work as soon as they could, Republicans appreciate you. You deserve better than a Governor who is spending your hard-earned money like this as she continues to botch our recovery.

If you think this is as crazy as we do, make your voice heard. Go to NEWS CENTER’s post asking Mainers about what they think of this outrageous plan and let them know what you think.

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