“We are not in session,” said state Sen. Anne Gobi, “however, we are still meeting electronically. The Senate caucuses once a week and we are still streaming sessions.”
And while she may not be making daily trips to Beacon Hill, Gobi said she and her staff are working hard to help constituents.
“My office has just been inundated with unemployment cases,” she said in a recent interview. “We have been pretty much working non-stop. This past weekend, because they’ve put extra people on on the weekends, we were actually able to get ahold of some people regarding their unemployment on Saturday and Sunday. So, it’s turned into a kind of seven-day-a-week job for members of my office. It always sort of was, going to a lot of events, but there are no events no.”
Gobi, D-Spencer, said much of the problem comes from people filing for unemployment online failing to enter all of their information correctly or completely, “or they’re afraid of checking off the wrong thing.” She also said some people who have been laid off since last fall are facing a cutoff in benefits.
“So, now we have to wait now for the fed’s program to kick in. Even though that’s been approved, it’s not completely up and running yet.
“A lot of people are in really desperate situations,” she said. “They have no money coming in whatsoever. We’re trying to work with various organizations, trying to help people out. If we’ve been able to sign them up for temporary services, we’ve been doing that.
“We’ve had some people in some very dire situations, and I can say we are very fortunate that where we live there are an awful lot of good people and good organizations that can help out and are providing an incredible safety net when people need it the most.”
Like most government officials, Gobi finds herself spending a lot of time online.
State Rep. Susannah Whipps, I-Athol, said recently that her office is also handling an increase in unemployment cases. She said she has been working closely with Gobi and Sen. Joanne Comerford, D-Northampton, to ensure constituents are getting their concerns dealt with and see to it that legislative offices aren’t duplicating efforts.
Gobi said work continues on various bills but noted they are not currently the priority.
“We’re still working on legislation,” she said. “Unfortunately, anything that’s not related to COVID-19 isn’t on the front burner. We’ve got our legislation ready to go when and if, hopefully, things get back to normal before too long.”
And, of course, there are economic matters to consider.
“We need to get a handle on the economy,” said Gobi, “because, traditionally, the House would be getting ready in a couple of weeks — that’s when they would normally be doing their budget debate. But we can’t even get started on that at this point. It’s going to be a very different year.”
Gobi concluding by saying, “If people are having difficulty at this time, whatever it is, they should contact us because we can put them in contact with various resources.”