As enhanced unemployment benefits expire at the end of the month, Senate Republicans are in a race against the clock to find a welcome expansion of the program as part of the upcoming coronavirus relief package.
Most Republicans support some form of expansion of the program, but many have argued that the program, in its current state, is not an initiator.
Under current law, passed in March as part of the first coronavirus stimulus legislation, those who claim unemployment receive a weekly federal benefit of $ 600 in addition to their regular state unemployment benefit. But as Republicans seek to update the program to ensure only pre-pandemic wages are replaced and nothing more than that, many have argued that the current benefit is too high and is leading to a disincentive to work for some.
The special pandemic program will expire July 31, although the labor department said final controls will be distributed this weekend.
“The (Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation) $ 600 can be paid for weeks ending no later than the week ending before Friday, July 31, 2020, ” the US Department of Labor said in a statement to USA Today, which first reported the news “For all states except (New York), is Saturday, July 25. New York’s end date is Sunday, July 26. “
The deadline is approaching when millions of Americans continue to apply for unemployment. There were 17.8 million people unemployed in June, and this information does not account for recent increases in coronavirus cases that have caused some states to reduce or cancel their reopening plans.
Senate Republicans seek to deal with the historic unemployment crisis in their upcoming COVID-19 relief bill that Republican leader Senator Mitch McConnell says is on track to be introduced this week before negotiations with Democrats. .
The massive package will address, among other components, school funding, testing, liability protections, expansions to the federal small business paycheck protection program, and direct payments to Americans.
But Republicans are far from united in a general package, let alone what to do with unemployment benefits, a situation that is likely to leave those in need without a check.
When asked if it was possible to pass a bill by the end of next week, McConnell scoffed and said “No.”
Republicans have argued that a $ 600 benefit is too generous and discourages working-class Americans, some of whom earn more in unemployment than while working, from returning to their workplace, a position with which the president Donald Trump agrees.
When asked about the amount of enhanced unemployment benefits, he said he would agree to the next round of congressional coronavirus relief legislation.
“They are thinking of making 70% of the amount,” Trump said. “The amount would be the same, but do it in slightly smaller down payments so people want to go back to work. Instead of making so much money, they really don’t have to.”
Senator Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, has argued for weeks that while the unemployment benefit cannot simply be lowered, it should also not serve as an unfair competitor to business owners seeking to hire employees. .
“I think we will have to find the compromise among those who want to cut it entirely, but we cannot go to $ 600 for another six months,” Grassley told ABC News on Monday.
Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, said Tuesday that he supports an expansion of the program, but argued that it will need to be scaled down.
“We certainly need to continue helping people with unemployment provisions,” Romney told reporters, but said the number would be “much lower” than $ 600.
Two Republican aides involved in the talks said negotiators discussed a reduction to $ 400 a week, but the details of any final product remain unclear.
Some members of the Republican conference have suggested linking the unemployment benefit to each individual’s income. But that is a proposal that states have said would be logistically difficult to implement given the outdated unemployment systems that many are using.
Romney said Tuesday that he believes some form of flat rate will need to be agreed due to these technical challenges.
Even with current lump sum payments, many states have struggled to maintain a system robust enough to accommodate bonds.
ABC News reported in May that people who applied for unemployment were waiting weeks to receive their benefits.
Still, Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, suggested Monday a version of unemployment benefits that would link the benefit to income.
“You can link him to the individual,” said Portman. “There is a way to do it as a percentage of the actual unemployment they are paying, which is based on their wages.”
According to Portman, states could generate payments using this method, since it would depend on the data they already collect from people applying for unemployment and the formulas already used to produce the state benefit.
Portman has also proposed a “return to work bonus” that would give Americans who return to work $ 450 a week for several weeks to attract their return.
However, Democrats remain steadfast in their stance that $ 600 a week is where the benefit should stay, approving the extension in a $ 3 trillion House-approved coronavirus stimulus bill.
Democratic Senate leaders have put forward a proposal that would gradually reduce the amount of unemployment benefits people receive as the unemployment rate drops.
It remains unclear whether that effort, led by Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat, will win Republican favor. But Wyden and other Democrats have urged Republicans to continue taking the unemployment rate seriously.
“You must live in a country club fantasy land to believe that this economic crisis is close to ending,” Wyden said earlier this month.
Although almost the entire Congress seems to believe that additional benefits will be required, the program is likely to expire, at least temporarily, as the Senate continues to negotiate a pleasant way forward.
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