Senate Republicans Still Oppose Extending Emergency Unemployment Relief As Millions of Americans Remain Out of Work

DSCC spokesperson Stewart Boss issued the following statement on the ongoing unemployment crisis and the fact that Senate Republicans are still “in no rush to act” to extend emergency unemployment relief despite the looming deadline at the end of the month:

“Mitch McConnell and Republicans oppose extending the enhanced unemployment relief that has kept so many hardworking families afloat these past few months, won’t commit to more help for state and local governments, and are trying to tear down access to health care during a pandemic. Playing political games with emergency unemployment relief that Congress passed with bipartisan support is unconscionable, and voters won’t forget.”

As the U.S. leads the world in the number of reported coronavirus cases and deaths and the surging pandemic undermines economic recovery efforts, “nearly 32 million Americans relied on unemployment aid” at the end of last month according to a Census Bureau survey. A new POLITICO report also finds that Senate Republicans allowing the $600 per week emergency unemployment relief to expire would put a “financial squeeze” on communities, with an “estimated $15 billion per week” being sapped from the economy and jobless workers in every state seeing their weekly benefit drop by at least 50%.

Despite an overwhelming majority of voters supporting an extension of the emergency unemployment relief, Senate Republicans are pledging to end the program and are “in no rush to act” as they take a two-week summer break instead of working on solutions in Washington.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

POLITICO: Key battleground states most vulnerable to cutoff in jobless aid

Key Points:

• Laid-off workers in key 2020 battleground states — some of the country’s most sought-after voters — may be hurt the most when the $600-a-week boost in unemployment benefits expires at the end of this month.

• Pennsylvania, Michigan and Florida — all of which Donald Trump barely won in the 2016 presidential race — have some of the highest numbers of unemployed workers in the country, and they’ll see a reduction of more than $3 billion per week in income once the enhanced aid runs out, according to one estimate.

• Jobless workers in every state will see their weekly benefit checks drop by at least 50 percent, depending on the recipients’ incomes and different rules in each state. But those in many swing states like North Carolina, Arizona and Georgia, as well as Michigan and Florida, will see even greater losses — from 64 percent to as high as 72 percent, Century Foundation fellow Andrew Stettner found.

• “It would be devastating” if Congress doesn’t act, Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Mich.) told POLITICO. “This benefit is the difference between surviving and not surviving for 20 percent of Michigan’s population.”

• Nearly 32 million Americans relied on unemployment aid to meet their spending needs in the last week of June, according to a Census Bureau survey released Wednesday.

• Yet some experts warn that without the extra help, laid-off workers will have less cash to use for bills, groceries and other needs. Less economic activity will be a drag on the recovery and will lead to more job loss, they say.

• Allowing the benefit to expire will sap an estimated $15 billion per week from the economy, Century’s Stettner predicts, putting a financial squeeze on both Democratic and Republican-leaning districts just months before the elections.

• States with a larger share of unemployed workers will feel the brunt of financial losses: California, Pennsylvania, New York, Michigan, Texas, Florida, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Arizona, Ohio and Illinois have the highest number of workers on unemployment rolls, he says.

• Most Americans support extending the additional aid past the July deadline, according to a Peterson Foundation-FT poll of 1000 likely voters. Some 66 percent say they would support extending the additional payment, with 82 percent of Democrats and 48 percent of Republicans backing the move.

• Last week, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office forecast that unemployment will continue to climb, peaking at 14 percent in the third quarter of this year.

• Covid-19 cases have also started spiking across the country, and several states, including Florida and Arizona, have started to force some businesses to shut down again, further muddying the economic outlook.

• But the GOP is in no rush to act, despite the looming deadline.

Read the full report here.

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