Amid soaring joblessness due to the coronavirus pandemic, Florida’s faulty unemployment website has made it nearly impossible for people to file for benefits. Glitches and errors even led the state unemployment office to temporarily shutter the website for maintenance earlier this week.

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CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC



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In an explosive story, today Politico reported that the system was designed to fail. Many, among them Republicans, blame Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), who was governor when the $77.9 million website was designed.

According to Politico, Scott wanted to make it harder for people to file to falsely deflate the numbers of people seeking unemployment.

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“It’s a shit sandwich, and it was designed that way by Scott,” one advisor to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis reportedly said.

“It wasn’t about saving money. It was about making it harder for people to get benefits or keep benefits so that the unemployment numbers were low to give the governor something to brag about.”

Republican Party of Florida Chairman Joe Gruters even said that “someone should go to jail” over the pricey, defective website.

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The website was among numerous changes Scott made to lower unemployment benefits and decrease tax on businesses. His administration also pushed through severe reductions in benefits.

Floridians can collect a maximum of $275/week for unemployment, among the lowest in the nation.

Scott’s spokesperson defended his record, telling Politico via email, “His goal was to make sure every Floridian who wanted a job could get one, and turned the program into a re-employment system so people could find employment.”

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Today’s revelations about the website sparked fresh outrage.

Some singled out Rick Scott, but more blamed Florida Republicans generally.

Rep. Jose Javier Rodriguez, a Miami Democrat, told Politico that while Scott is “the most culpable … I don’t know of any Republican who resisted these efforts to make Florida the most Scrooge-like state in the nation.”

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Orlando Democratic state Rep. Anna V. Eskamani tweeted, “Republican leaders rage as everyday Floridians struggle to get the benefits they need & deserve via a system & website designed to NOT work.”

I worked for the gov here in FL. I assure you this is not the only faulty website. Access crashed recently too and could not be accessed. No pun intended. Systems are overloaded and can't handle requests. Those trying need to try very late night/early morning hrs of the day. — Austere News Scholar Jen (@_jenniferlong) April 3, 2020

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Florida Republicans:

❌Designed our unemployment system to fail

❌Refused to expand Medicaid for YEARS

❌Kowtow to Trump, big business instead of listening to scientists



Floridians deserve more. Full stop. https://t.co/xoQEAbAlbo — Frances Swanson (@franhswanson) April 3, 2020

It is eye opening that even now the anonymous DeSantis advisor doesn’t see the safety net as important two months ago. A system that is designed to improperly deny you you benefits is a problem regardless of when you are improperly denied benefits. pic.twitter.com/bGo4dUBQJZ — f.s. wisen (@foswi) April 3, 2020

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Florida Republicans are the arsonists who deliberately and maliciously start the fire that burns down the house and then blame the firefighters for not saving the structure in time after they purposely destroyed it. #EndTheGOP https://t.co/R3lPQcrGBt — Fernand R. Amandi (@AmandiOnAir) April 3, 2020

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I see Florida Republicans trending & all I can think is:



I am so glad I never moved to Florida.

I am so glad I never moved to Florida.

I am so glad I never moved to Florida.



I feel bad for any Dem who lives there

Republicans deserv wht they get esp if they have no voting regret — Evidence Based Stable Genius- TruthTeam101 (@TruthTeam101) April 3, 2020

Hey, Florida Republicans, just because your leaders pray to Jesus doesn’t mean they are good people.



In fact, they are terrible people and have done nothing that Jesus would have done.



Vote Democrat! pic.twitter.com/QwshSClqbL — TweetThins (@OnLikeFlan) April 3, 2020

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The defective website led DeSantis to order the state to accept paper applications. The state is also working on a mobile app and reportedly plans to deploy up to thousands of state employees to handle the massive influx in unemployment benefits applications.

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