Outraged over reductions in unemployment benefits that took effect over the weekend, civil rights leaders vowed to organize a ninth "Moral Monday" protest outside the North Carolina legislature late Monday afternoon.
North Carolina is the first state to cut off a federal unemployment compensation program for the long-term jobless. Republican lawmakers say reducing the duration and amount of unemployment payments will help the state repay money it borrowed from the federal government to honor a flood of claims during the recession.
But critics say the move will cause 170,000 North Carolinians to lose benefits.
Changes in North Carolina's unemployment law are just the latest in a series of issues behind the "Moral Monday" protests, which have drawn hundreds of civil rights leaders, left-leaning clergy and citizens to the state Legislative Complex almost every week since April 29.
The state's Republican-controlled legislature opted out of a Medicaid expansion under ObamaCare that would have extended coverage to 500,000 low-income people. GOP lawmakers have also proposed reductions in state income taxes while increasing sales taxes, as well as cuts in public school funding and restrictions on early voting.Read the rest HERE and view a related video below:
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