COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - South Carolina leaders have fumbled plans to allow out-of-work residents to collect seven weeks of extended unemployment benefits, and calls are growing for the Legislature to address that problem.
Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Dwight Drake said Friday that legislators need to come back to Columbia to make sure workers can keep getting checks. This weekend, 6,900 people will exhaust their state and federal benefits.
Unless legislators here or in Washington address their problems, they'll lose the cash that helps them pay for rent and food.
State Employment Security Commissioner Becky Richardson says 113,078 South Carolinians already have exhausted state benefits and federal extensions.
