DSCC spokesperson Stewart Boss issued the following statement on reports that 1.4 million Americans filed new jobless claims this past week while Senate Republicans continued to block a full extension of emergency unemployment relief:
“As more Americans were filing jobless claims last week, Senate Republicans cast their votes to cut emergency unemployment relief in half and now they’re already marking their calendars for the next recess instead of working to pass a relief package that meets the needs of struggling families. Throughout this crisis, Mitch McConnell and his caucus have done nothing but play games and focus on politics first — their actions have wasted precious time, abandoned their constituents, and made this crisis far worse than it had to be. It’s no wonder Americans are outraged at Senate Republicans for their indefensible handling of this pandemic and its effects on our economy.”
Rather than trying to pass a bipartisan relief package, The Hill reports this morning that Senate Republican leaders are already eyeing an “early exit” for recess and “hoping to let their colleagues hit the campaign trail at the end of next week.”
Another new report today from the Washington Post helps explain why: “GOP strategists and Capitol Hill staffers don’t seem especially worried” about their party’s “inaction on a new coronavirus stimulus bill” — because these out-of-touch D.C. operatives argue “there hasn’t been a loud public outcry at the lack of another stimulus package, despite the 193,000 U.S. deaths from the virus and no real end in sight to the health and economic crisis.” One GOP Senate staffer said the reason Republicans aren’t working urgently towards a new bipartisan relief package is that “the stock market is doing very well” and that it would take the stock market tanking to act on new relief.
Senate Republicans created an “urgent crisis” earlier this summer when they let emergency unemployment relief expire, took a month-long vacation, and left millions of jobless Americans without relief. Despite grim warnings that the U.S. economy remains at risk, Senate Republicans pushed a stunt bill that even President Trump said this week didn’t meet Americans’ needs. McConnell and his caucus are still refusing to work on negotiating a bipartisan deal for additional coronavirus relief. Now, the “anger” of millions of jobless Americans is directed at Senate Republicans for failing them in this crisis.
Are Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans still blocking urgently needed relief? Yes.
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