Republicans are suddenly in favor of unemployment benefits — for anti-vaxxers


If you live in Kansas and get fired from your job for refusing to take a COVID vaccine, at least you'll be able to collect unemployment checks.
The state's GOP-controlled legislature met in a special session on Monday to push back against President Biden's vaccine mandates. By the end of the day, legislators agreed to a bill that creates an expansive religious exemption from employer requirements to get the jab — "a lot of people are going to find Jesus and that's fantastic," one official cracked — but also ensures that anti-vaxxers don't have to worry about getting fired for their refusal because they'll still get paid. Gov. Laura Kelly, a Democrat who has already come out against Biden's mandate, said she will sign the legislation.
Protecting anti-vax workers from the consequences of losing their jobs is not a new idea: Iowa passed similar legislation last month, and it's likely other Republican-dominated states will follow. What makes all of this very interesting is that the GOP rarely goes out of its way to strengthen unemployment protections.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Long before the pandemic started, conservatives often went out of their way to make collecting benefits difficult for the newly jobless. In 2017, then-House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) helped pass legislation for states to subject unemployment recipients to drug testing. Before that, in 2015, a study found that Florida's notoriously cumbersome unemployment system was "virtually inaccessible" for most people — just one in eight jobless workers in the state were collecting benefits at that point.
GOP attitudes didn't change after COVID hit the country. In March 2020, when workers were losing their jobs by the hundreds of thousands, Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) weighed in against being too generous with benefits. "We cannot encourage people to make more money in unemployment than they do in employment," he said. More recently, a number of Republican-led states cut off their COVID-era enhanced jobless benefits in order to prod their citizens back to work. Unemployment insurance ends up "incentivizing and paying workers to stay at home rather than encouraging them to return to the workplace," South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, a Republican, said in May.
The upshot of all this is that workers who hesitated to expose themselves to illness or had to stay home to take care of kids were punished by Republicans, but those who refuse their responsibility to help halt the spread of COVID just might be rewarded. And while the GOP generally hates handing out unemployment benefits, the party's officials have decided to make an extraordinary exception for their own most devoted voters. It's a racket.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Joel Mathis is a writer with 30 years of newspaper and online journalism experience. His work also regularly appears in National Geographic and The Kansas City Star. His awards include best online commentary at the Online News Association and (twice) at the City and Regional Magazine Association.
-
September 1 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Monday’s political cartoons include Labor Day picnic, branding strategy, and more
-
What is Tony Blair's plan for Gaza?
Today's Big Question Former PM has reportedly been putting together a post-war strategy 'for the past several months'
-
When does autumn begin?
The Explainer The UK is experiencing a 'false autumn', as climate change shifts seasonal weather patterns
-
Truck drivers are questioning the Trump administration's English mandate
Talking Points Some have praised the rules, others are concerned they could lead to profiling
-
Gavin Newsom's Trump-style trolling roils critics while thrilling fans
TALKING POINTS The California governor has turned his X account into a cutting parody of Trump's digital cadence, angering Fox News conservatives
-
Costco is at the center of an abortion debate
Talking Points The decision to no longer stock the abortion pill came following a pressure campaign by conservatives
-
What does occupying Gaza accomplish for Israel?
Talking Points Risking a 'strategic dead-end' in the fight against Hamas
-
Ghislaine Maxwell: angling for a Trump pardon
Talking Point Convicted sex trafficker's testimony could shed new light on president's links to Jeffrey Epstein
-
Does depopulation threaten humanity?
Talking Points Falling birth rates could create a 'smaller, sadder, poorer future'
-
Gavin Newsom mulls California redistricting to counter Texas gerrymandering
TALKING POINTS A controversial plan has become a major flashpoint among Democrats struggling for traction in the Trump era
-
The Supreme Court and Congress have Planned Parenthood in their crosshairs
Talking Points Trump's budget bill and the court's ruling threaten abortion access