Washington, DC, USA. The deeply partisan debate over health care legislation now working its way through the U. S. Congress is breaking down along similar lines out in the states. The governors and legislatures will be tasked with carrying out much of the plan.

Unemployment has declined in 36 states in November, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

The U.S. Senate, meanwhile, sent President Obama this year's defense spending bill that includes a two-month extension of unemployment benefits.

State officials weigh in on health care

The U.S. Senate voted early Monday (Dec. 21) along party lines — 60 Democrats to 40 Republicans — to give initial approval to the latest version of health care legislation. Now that the details of the bill are emerging, state officials are weighing in, and criticism from Republicans over the Democratic-led effort is getting sharper.

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) “is wishing Nevadans a Merry Christmas with a smile on his face and a knife in our backs,” Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons (R) said Monday, according to the Las Vegas Sun. Gibbons contends that federal health care legislation would bankrupt Nevada and cost the state $613 million in general fund dollars because it would expand Medicaid, the joint state-federal program that offers health care to the poor.

Reid’s office responded by accusing Gibbons of “using his official office to parrot national Republican talking points.”

Both Gibbons and Alabama Gov. Bob Riley (R) assailed a deal secured by U.S. Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) that would benefit Nebraska — but not other states — by forcing the federal government to pick up the state’s full costs for expanding Medicaid. “It reeks to me of legalized bribery,” Riley said on Monday, according to the Montgomery (Ala.) Advertiser.

Even Nebraska’s governor, Republican Dave Heineman, as well as some Democrats, blasted Nelson’s deal. “It is imperative that every state is treated fairly and equally or all special deals must be removed” from the bill, Heineman wrote in a letter to Nelson, according to the Lincoln Journal Star.

Democratic Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland said “it seems a little unseemly to me that the senator who is so hugely responsible for health care would be so narrow in his concern that he would hold the ability of the nation's health-care hostage in order to get something that was so selfish for his own state,” according to the Cincinnati Enquirer.

In Tennessee, opposition to the health care legislation among some Republicans is so strong that two GOP state representatives have asked the state attorney general to take legal action to stop the bill from becoming law, the (Nashville) Tennessean reported.

The lawmakers claim that the legislation would violate state sovereignty and cost Tennessee taxpayers $1.4 billion annually.

In Oklahoma, three Republican state lawmakers plan to file a bill to allow voters to opt out of any federal health care plan, The Associated Press reported.

Democrats, for their part, are trying to stand behind the bill, even if they disagree with some of its components. Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley (D) — who is running to replace the late U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy (D) — now supports the legislation, though she earlier raised issues about its abortion provisions, The Christian Science Monitor reported.

Jobless rate dips in 36 states

Unemployment declined in 36 states in November, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

It was the first time since April that more states’ unemployment rates rose than fell, The Associated Press reported. But the wire service warned that the trend “appeared to reflect more people leaving the work force.” Those who stop looking for jobs out of frustration aren’t counted in the work force.

The national unemployment rate declined to 10 percent, down from the 10.2 percent reported last month.

Kentucky and Connecticut reported the largest declines in unemployment from October levels, at 0.7 and 0.6 percent, respectively. Only one state — Florida — posted a significant increase in unemployment, BLS said. The Sunshine State shed 16,700 jobs and now has an 11.5 percent unemployment rate. That’s the highest in 34 years, according to The Palm Beach Post, which noted that more than a million Floridians are out of work.

Michigan continues to have the nation’s highest unemployment rate, at 14.7 percent. The next-highest rates were reported in Rhode Island (12.7 percent) and California, Nevada and South Carolina (12.3 percent each).

Meanwhile, the U.S. Senate on Saturday (Dec. 19) sent President Obama a two-month extension of jobless benefits, including an extension of health care benefits under the federal COBRA program. The benefits were included in a much larger defense spending bill, The Los Angeles Times reported.

The TS-Si News Service is a collaborative effort by TS-Si.org editors, contributors, and corresponding institutions. Sources can include the cited individuals and organizations, as well as TS-Si.org staff contributions. Articles and news reports do not necessarily convey official positions of TS-Si, its partners, or affiliates. We welcome your comments. Use the form below to leave a public comment or send private correspondence via the TS-Si Contact Page. We will not divulge any personal details or place you on a mailing list without your permission.


TS-Si is dedicated to the acceptance, medical treatment, and legal protection of individuals correcting the misalignment of their brains and their anatomical sex, while supporting their transition into society as hormonally reconstituted and surgically corrected citizens.

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