Benefits extension?

Democrats included in their next coronavirus relief bill an extension of the $600 unemployment benefit until January 2021.

That bill was passed along a mostly partly-line vote, with Nevada’s congressional delegation voting with respective party leaders.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said his chamber’s version of the next relief bill would be taken up after Congress returns from its July Fourth holiday.

There is little appetite among rank-and-file Republicans to extend the $600 benefit in the next relief bill, but some GOP lawmakers and President Donald Trump want a payroll tax cut, something that has drawn Republican opposition as well as a strong denunciation by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

Republicans also want legal protections for businesses, hospitals, schools and universities to prevent those contacting COVID-19 from having an opening to file lawsuits.

Democrats have urged McConnell to begin bipartisan negotiations to sort out differences and find consensus on the next relief bill.

Las Vegas Review-Journal

Gary Martin

could change if a coronavirus food assistance program that is part of the CARES Act ends.

“We receive in excess of a million pounds of food a month from that federal program,” Scott said.

Packing up

Marsian-Bolduc, the tour guide, was furloughed as the valley shut down. She filed for traditional unemployment insurance in March, but after switching to the independent-contractor system, she started receiving state and federal jobless benefits, totaling $945 per week last month, she said.

Her employer has helped cover the rent on her $1,750-per-month house during the pandemic, but there’s only so much the company can do, said Marsian-Bolduc, who led a tour Friday for the first time since March.

Marsian-Bolduc said she had no savings going into the pandemic, applied for food stamps after the crisis hit, and has started packing and throwing things away in preparation for possibly having to live in her camper.

It features a bed, a shower with a bathtub and a kitchen with a minifridge, a microwave, a two-burner gas grill and a toaster oven.

It’s a scary situation, she said. She added that if the federal funds go away, she “will not be able to survive at all.”