Senate Republicans remain divided on how much aid to provide, delaying the release of their next financial aid proposal, though Republican Senator John Thune of South Dakota said last week that pressure to miss a deadline for the expiration of benefits can force a deal.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Thursday that extending the program, which was part of the $ 2 trillion economic aid package approved in March, is a priority.
“We are not going to pay people more money to stay home than to work, but we want to make sure that people who cannot find work get a reasonable wage replacement,” he told CNBC. “Therefore, it will be based on a salary replacement of approximately 70%.”
That would be about $ 200 a week, said Ernie Tedeschi, an economist at Evercore ISI.
Whatever happens on Capitol Hill, the unemployed will continue to receive state benefits, but These vary widely and replace only 40% of wages, on average.
Americans suffer despite the extra money
Even with the federal boost, many Americans are hurting financially, and their expiration occurs days before rent or mortgage payments are due in August.. The eviction protections included in previous Congressional packages have also expired, increasing the possibility of homelessness or displacement for millions.
Losing the $ 600 weekly benefit would cause approximately 41% to spend more than half of their income on rent, leaving them at greater risk of eviction, according to an analysis published Thursday by Zillow.
According to a recent Census Bureau survey, more than a quarter of adults said they missed these payments last month or have little or no confidence that their home can pay their next month’s rent or mortgage on time. .
And nearly 11% of adults are in households where sometimes or often there was not enough to eat in the past seven days, according to the survey.
“No one wins and everyone loses if we allow supplemental UI benefits to expire without replacement,” said Andrew Stettner, principal investigator for The Century Foundation, who estimates that 25 million Americans receive federal payments. “Families will be driven from their homes, poverty will skyrocket, children will starve, businesses will close, and the economy will collapse.”
Colton Blount of Dallas is concerned about how he will pay his bills with just $ 520 a week in state benefits. A human resources consultant with a global company, Blount, 29, was suspended in mid-June. While you have savings that can take you up to a few weeks, you’ve already contacted your landlord and credit card companies to see how flexible they can be. But he expects lawmakers to act before having to start prioritizing payments.
“Ending a program because they assume some people are doing a little more while keeping the rest of us afloat is ridiculous and shows how disconnected many are in Congress,” he said.
More Americans File Unemployment Applications
When Congress approved the improved payments in March, lawmakers thought the economy would recover quickly.
However, it is actually showing signs of weakening.
And 975,000 people first filed claims for the pandemic unemployment assistance program, which Congress created in late March to temporarily help freelancers, independent contractors, and others who do not qualify for the traditional unemployment program. That’s almost 20,000 from the week before.
Census surveys also show that since mid-June, more adults report that they have not been employed in the past seven days. The figure increased by 6.5 million in the last month.
“The labor market remains in a precarious place as Covid-19 cases increase in some parts of the country and stricter measures are taken in response,” said Nancy Vanden Houten, chief economist at Oxford Economics.
CNN’s Ted Barrett contributed to this story.
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