The weekly increase in unemployment benefits of $ 600 trusted by more than 30 million Americans fired to endure the coronavirus-induced recession will expire in just 10 days without action by Congress, but the Republican majority leader in Senate Mitch McConnell appears to be in No rush to negotiate a solution.
With the Senate currently in recess and not expected to return until July 20, McConnell told reporters on Monday that he does not plan to start formal stimulus talks with his Democratic counterparts until next week at the earliest. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (DN.Y.) reportedly told his committee on Tuesday that he has not heard from McConnell about the Covid-19 negotiations.
McConnell’s schedule for the talks would leave the Senate and House with less than a week to go out and pass the legislation before unemployment benefits begin to return to their pre-pandemic rate, which in some states peaks less. $ 300 per week.
“Mitch McConnell may have already sentenced the tens of millions of American workers who depend on federal unemployment benefits to a sudden sharp decline in earnings in late July,” said Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va. ) It’s a statement. late Tuesday
“Because state unemployment benefits must be extended before July 25 to be processed by states that administer their programs, McConnell’s announcement that the Senate will not even begin drafting or negotiating legislation until next week indeed it makes a delay in those expanded payments inevitable. ” Beyer added. “We may no longer have time to avoid the iceberg.”
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Economists have repeatedly warned that allowing the enhanced unemployment benefits to expire in late July would cut the incomes of more than 30 million Americans by 50-75%. According to Josh Bivens of the Institute for Economic Policy, such a sharp cut in income could also cause massive job losses and slower economic growth.
Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), One of the architects of the boosted unemployment insurance, tweeted on Wednesday that “30 million Americans will be left in the lurch without this critical lifeline.”
“It is time for the Trump administration and Senate Republicans to act together and extend supercharged unemployment benefits,” Wyden said. “Our entire economy depends on it.”
The Democrat-controlled House of Representatives passed a bill in May that would extend the weekly unemployment insurance increase of $ 600 until January of next year, but McConnell has refused to allow a vote on the legislation.
After previously opposing any extension of the improved unemployment insurance, Trump administration officials in recent days have expressed their openness to approving smaller weekly payments.
“Despite a new consensus that the additional $ 600 in federal unemployment benefits should not disappear entirely, Republicans and Democrats are still far apart in a real deal.” HuffPost reported Wednesday. “Republicans are looking for a number closer to $ 200, and Democrats are pushing for benefits closer to $ 500.”
Although the program got off to a rocky start as an unprecedented avalanche of jobless claims created massive delays and delays, progressives have praised the enhanced benefits as one of the most successful components of the federal government’s Covid-19 response.
Supporters of the program argue that it would be catastrophic to let benefits expire as coronavirus infections increase in the US, Thousands of workers are laid off a second time as states roll back their reopens, and tens of millions of Americans face possible eviction.
“This is the true fiscal cliff,” Bharat Ramamurti, a member of the congressional committee charged with overseeing the handling of Covid-19 funds by the Trump administration, tweeted.
In less than two weeks, Ramamurti said, “More than 30 million will experience big cuts in income, a shock that will force such a huge drop in consumer spending that it will cause more than 3 million job losses.”
George Wentworth, lead attorney for the National Labor Law Project, said The American perspective On Monday that “with the virus still uncontrolled and more states reestablishing Covid-related restrictions in many sectors of the economy, health and economic conditions remain too volatile to end this supplement.”
“Now is not the time to get the rug out from under workers who are unable to return to work because of the damage caused by the pandemic,” Wentworth said.
