DSCC spokesperson Stewart Boss issued the following statement on new numbers released today from the U.S. Department of Labor showing 1.5 million additional workers filed claims for unemployment benefits last week:
“Just last week, Majority Leader McConnell and his caucus patted themselves on the back, congratulated themselves on a job well done, and doubled down on their insistence that there’s no ‘urgency’ for further action. GOP senators are showing more concern for their re-election prospects than this economic and public health crisis: 44 million Americans in total have filed for unemployment in recent months, millions have also lost their health coverage, and more than 110,000 have died. Senate Republicans are failing our frontline workers and health providers, our small business owners, and our state and local governments by choosing inaction and deliberately ignoring how much communities across the country are hurting right now and still need relief.”
As millions have lost their employer-sponsored health insurance during this public health crisis, Republicans made it harder for out-of-work Americans to get health care by refusing to hold the Trump administration responsible for its unpopular decision to keep special enrollment closed, kept moving forward with their lawsuit to tear down the entire health care law that expanded Medicaid and provides protections for pre-existing conditions, and praised President Trump’s dangerously insufficient pandemic response.
Now, Senate Republicans have continued their disastrously inadequate response as they “prepare to punt” on any future relief, refuse to extend the enhanced unemployment benefits that have been an essential lifeline for millions of Americans struggling with losing their jobs and income, and have “no plan” to help make it easier for the uninsured to obtain health coverage.
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