House Speaker Frank Chopp wants to tweak a proposal by Gov. Chris Gregoire to temporarily boost unemployment benefits for workers as well as provide a tax cut for business.

Gregoire recently proposed taking $400 million from the state's $4 billion unemployment trust fund, which is running a surplus. Half would go to boost benefits and the other half would aid businesses by reducing the amount of money they pay into the fund. Under her proposal, workers would receive a $45-a-week boost in benefits on average.

Chopp agrees with bumping up the average pay check, but also wants to increase the minimum benefit that workers can get from $129 per week to around $150.

"For the low-wage worker, they'll benefit by a couple hundred dollars per month, which can make a big difference," Chopp said today.

Chopp said the plan in the House is to move on beefing up worker benefits quickly and then take up the tax cut for business. He wants to look at long-term reduction in the amount of money business puts into the unemployment fund so that it doesn't rack up large surpluses in the future.

The rates were set too high, he said. "We'd adjust those rates to have a more appopriate amount in the fund."