Alabama, help is on the way.

Alabama Department of Industrial Relations director Tom Surtees announced Tuesday that unemployed Alabamians will begin receiving the additional $25 weekly benefit included in the federal economic stimulus program.

The extra $100 per month would provide some additional help to families who have found themselves out of work recently but aside from the Band-aid it provides to families out of work, the federal aid has handcuffed the state to an army of Washington lawmakers who have handed out billions and billions of dollars in the past six months — billions and billions of dollars the U.S. doesn’t have to begin with.

Out-of-work residents are the responsibility of the states in which they live. An additional $25 per week isn’t going to markedly raise anyone’s quality of life. It’s just going to drive our “bailout” tally even higher.

The ease at which Washington has “ridden to the rescue” with these bailout funds reaks of guilt. One would think if all these new oversights and regulatry commitees had been in place three or four years ago – or the ones who were in place done their jobs – we wouldn’t be in this mess to begin with.

Make no mistake. This unemployment boost is a $25-per-week “my bad.” Please use those funds wisely. God only knows what may await us next.