Scott Brown: Unemployment benefits are 'welfare' that should be phased out slowly

Former Massachusetts Sen. Scott (R) said on Sunday that he supported slowing phasing out long-term unemployment benefits because people needed "welfare" and the program should not be halted abruptly.

During a panel segment on Fox News, Senior Political Analyst Brit Hume opined that he had a "sense" that people who were receiving long-term unemployment benefits "had them for a long time" and the program was supposed to be a "temporary measure."

Hume admitted that Democrats might see some political benefit if Republicans were portrayed as "hard-hearted" for refusing to renew benefits for the long-term unemployed earlier this month.

Brown, who is rumored to be considering another Senate run after moving to New Hampshire, argued that President Barack Obama's health care reform law was contributing to the problem of unemployment.

"Listen, if Congress wanted to pass this [unemployment benefit extension] before the holidays they would have done it, they didn't do it, it wasn't a priority," he observed. "Will they go and do it retroactively? We've done it before. It will probably pass."

"As a Republican, I've made proposals, just find a way to pay for it," Brown added. "Happy to help. My mom was on welfare. It's there as a safety net. It's not a lifelong entitlement."

"Find a way to pay for it. And then find a way to phase it out and incentivize people to get back to work."

Watch this video from Fox News' Fox News Sunday, broadcast Dec. 29, 2013.