AUSTIN -&160;Minnesota House Speaker Steve Sviggum, R-Kenyon, said Thursday he supports some form of extended unemployment benefits for former Farmland Foods employees, but hinted at a hunch that the plant may not reopen in Albert Lea.

Friday, January 04, 2002

AUSTIN -&160;Minnesota House Speaker Steve Sviggum, R-Kenyon, said Thursday he supports some form of extended unemployment benefits for former Farmland Foods employees, but hinted at a hunch that the plant may not reopen in Albert Lea.

Sviggum said the company’s delay in making an announcement isn’t a good sign. The company originally said it would make an announcement in October.

&uot;The longer you hear that it’s not going to open up, the more you question whether it’s going to open up again,&uot; Sviggum said in an interview. &uot;I have nothing more than just my gut feeling on this. I hope that they’ll open up again and those jobs come back. But this was supposed to be (three) months ago and we haven’t heard anything yet.

&uot;But we have to deal with those families.&uot;

Sviggum said he supports extending unemployment benefits to those who are actively seeking different employment, &uot;and not to those just sitting at home.&uot;

Sviggum said he’s also open to a recent bill proposed by Sen. Grace Schwab, R-Albert Lea, that would extend those unemployment benefits.

&uot;I have to see the bill and what it will do to our unemployment benefits costs,&uot; Sviggum said. &uot;Let’s just say there’s a bill that’s being considered. We will be open to it. I don’t know enough about the facts to give a anwswer. But it’s important. These are local jobs.&uot;

On other topics, Sviggum reiterated his support for freezing some state hiring to help shrink the state’s anticipated $1.95 billion deficit.

Sviggum said there has to be some way to reduce the deficit, and instituting a temporary hiring freeze is an effective way to do this, without having to cut education or raise taxes.

&uot;We have to reduce some state spending,&uot; Sviggum said. &uot;We should look at state government itself.&uot;

Sviggum said the freeze by the state would be no different than having a private enterprise do this.

&uot;What a business does when they do a hiring freeze, it doesn’t affect essential employees,&uot; Sviggum said. &uot;If a job is not determined to be essential, we won’t hire a person back for a year or two. Maybe there’s some programs that you have to look at. There’s a difference between ‘needed’ programs and ‘nice’ programs.

&uot;We need good roads. But do we need folks driving around to help me change my tire? It’s a nice thing to have, but it isn’t a necessity.&uot;

Sviggum said he’s against raising taxes on labor and other public services.

&uot;I think we can solve the budget without raising taxes,&uot; he said. &uot;We ought to stick to our property-tax reform. The homeowners and the business owners should know that we’re not going to raise their taxes after just lowering them.

&uot;It does mean having a hiring freeze. But there are choices that people have to make. The governor’s talked about raising taxes to services and labor. We’re not going to go there.&uot;