Swartz blasts Reineke as Ohio borrows billions from feds to cover unemployment benefits

Ohio state Senate candidate Craig Swartz (D-Upper Sandusky) blasted his opponent, current state Rep. Bill Reineke (R-Tiffin) on Tuesday after it was revealed that the state of Ohio is borrowing federal funds to cover unemployment benefits.

Gov. Mike DeWine said during a press conference Tuesday that Ohio will borrow money from the federal government to cover the unemployment benefits.

The state has requested a line of credit for $3.1 billion from the U.S. Department of Labor.

DeWine said the problems with the state’s unemployment system existed before the pandemic and the downturn in the economy.

“We’ve got a long-term structural problem that needed to be fixed prior to the coronavirus problem,” DeWine said.

Swartz said Reineke, who is currently serving his third term in the Ohio House, is part of the problem.

“Our communities are TIRED of the same old politics that the Ohio GOP led leadership has taken us. Leaders like State Rep. Bill Reineke represents that same failed leadership that’s ignored the infrastructural problems we’re in,” Swartz wrote on his campaign Facebook page Tuesday afternoon.

“Now all of a sudden they think they’re the ones to fix it after ignoring it for years? No, thank you,” Swartz continued.

DeWine said the $3.1 billion loan is more than what the state thinks it would need to pay out in benefits.

The number of initial jobless claims filed in Ohio over the last 12 weeks stands at 1,327,843, as of June 6. That is more than the combined total of those filed during the last three years.

Today is the first day that #Ohio has had to borrow money to meet its unemployment obligation during the #COVID19 pandemic. Ohio requested $3.1 billion in borrowing authority from the U.S. Department of Labor.

— Governor Mike DeWine (@GovMikeDeWine) June 16, 2020