White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow told CNN’s Jake Tapper about “State of the Union” that $ 1,200 checks to Americans will be part of the new recovery package, in addition to reemployment bonuses, bonuses withholding and tax credits for small businesses and restaurants.
The new provisions are slated to be unveiled Monday, hoping to replace benefits that officials characterized as potential incentives for beneficiaries not to return to work. “We want to move forward quickly, the bill will be tabled on Monday, we are prepared to act quickly,” Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said on “Fox News Sunday.”
Kudlow told Tapper that “we have had an avalanche of inquiries and phone calls and complaints that small shops, businesses and restaurants cannot hire people.”
“They went too far,” he continued. “Maybe last March, it was necessary for that, but really the consequences of people not returning to work … we want to pay people to go back to work.”
The upgrade was designed to keep laid-off people at home instead of looking for work during pandemic-fueled blockades, and has helped millions pay rent, buy groceries, and cover other bills. But it has also kept some workers on the sidelines, creating headaches for employers trying to get back to work, even as new waves of coronaviruses complicate the reopening of the state.
However, Republicans are concerned that such generous payments may discourage people from returning to their jobs, delaying the economic recovery.
White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said on ABC’s “This Week” that “the original benefits will not be” in the new bill, adding that “the original unemployment benefits really paid people for stay at home”.
Meadows said the proposal will involve offering improved unemployment benefits that would replace the wages of a laid-off worker by up to 70%, although he acknowledged the challenges some states will face in administering such a complicated benefit. She said she has worked with Mnuchin and Secretary of Labor Eugene Scalia to ensure that “outdated computers” in some state benefits offices do not prevent people from receiving their benefits.
The chief of staff also confirmed that he and Mnuchin will return to Capitol Hill on Sunday to continue reviewing the details of the bill.
“I would have preferred a payroll tax cut in addition to that check, but be that as it may, politically it doesn’t work but the check is there,” Kudlow said in “State of the Union.”
When asked if the change in benefits could harm the economy by endangering those facing bills and evictions, Kudlow said the combination of unemployment benefits with a limit of 70% of wages, reemployment bonuses and bonuses Withholding tax “will more than offset any of this.”
“The trick here is to get back to work,” he added.
CNN’s Tami Luhby contributed to this report.
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