Johnson spearheads GOP plan for benefits
Federal supplement would remain, reduced
Sen. Ron Johnson on Thursday proposed a bill that would allow extended unemployment benefits to continue but reduce their amount, on the day before the $600 weekly federal unemployment benefit from the CARES relief act is set to expire.
Johnson’s bill is an alternative to the larger omnibus HEROES relief act passed by the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives that would continue the $600 payments. That measure has been held up in the Senate.
Johnson’s bill, which he introduced along with Republican Sen. Mike Braun of Indiana, would let states decide whether to give benefit recipients either a flat $200 addition to state benefits or an amount equal to two-thirds of their normal wages, capped at $500.
POLITICO reported that the bill’s strategy had some support from the White House.
Johnson wrote on Twitter that the bill “doesn’t harm small businesses by incentivizing unemployment but recognizes the assistance needed for Americans who are facing unemployment due to state and local government-mandated shutdowns.”
He has previously opposed extending the $600 per week unemployment benefits.
On the Senate floor Thursday, he argued that the HEROES act was too expensive and that by continuing the $600 payment, “we are creating a very perverse incentive for people to remain unemployed when our economy is calling for more workers.”
In Wisconsin, the top official in Gov. Tony Evers’ administration handling unemployment said an earlier GOP proposal to cap federal unemployment at 70% of workers’ pay would introduce complications in an already strained system dealing with massive backlogs.
Johnson on Thursday suggested the flat $200 option gives states a way around having to compute a percentage of worker pay.
“The states have the option — if they can’t handle the two-thirds plus-up, they can accept the $200 flat plus-up,” Johnson said, adding that “in case our Democratic colleagues are going to complain about that ($200) not being generous enough, two-thirds of weekly wages is exactly what the House passed in phase 2 of the COVID relief packages,” he said.
Johnson was referencing the Families First Coronavirus Response Act passed in March, which stipulated that people could get two-thirds of their normal pay during 12 weeks of paid leave if their children’s schools closed.
Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, Democratic minority leader, blocked Johnson’s bill, calling it a “stunt” that would fail in both the Senate and the House.
He criticized Johnson’s bill as not being enough to keep people out of poverty compared with the current payment.
Later on, when Schumer asked to pass the HEROES Act by unanimous consent, Johnson objected and blocked the bill.