S. Carolina seeks loan for jobless payments

Gov. Mark Sanford agreed Wednesday to request a $146-million federal loan that will allow South Carolina residents to continue receiving unemployment checks through March.

Otherwise, the fund that makes weekly payments of $14 million to about 77,000 people would have run dry by the end of the day.

“Everybody was real scared this morning,” said Herbert Curtis, 51, who has collected unemployment since being laid off by a linen service a year ago. “My boat was sinking, and he threw me a life preserver. And he didn’t only throw it to me, he threw it to a lot of people.”

Sanford had refused to sign the loan request because of a dispute with the state agency that handles unemployment.

He said Wednesday that he had agreed to request the aid because he got his way when several lawmakers said they would ask for an audit of the Employment Security Commission. He also found a legal provision that he says allows him to force the commission to turn over more information about how it calculates unemployment rates.

“We will not punish the unemployed for this agency’s incompetence,” Sanford said during a news conference.

Last month, South Carolina had the nation’s third-highest unemployment rate, 8.4%.

Three states -- South Carolina, Michigan and Indiana -- have borrowed from the federal government to meet their unemployment payment obligations during the financial crisis.