Trump offers, Dems reject fix for $600 jobless benefit
$600-per-week aid program set to expire
WASHINGTON — With aid expiring, the White House offered a short-term extension Thursday of a $600 weekly unemployment benefit that has helped keep families and the economy afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic, but Democrats rejected it, saying President Donald Trump’s team failed to grasp the severity of the crisis.
Democratic leaders panned the idea in late-night talks, opting to keep the pressure on for a more sweeping bill that would deliver aid to state and local governments, help for the poor, and funding for schools and colleges. Without action, the benefit runs out Friday.
“They want to do one small thing that won’t solve the problem,” said top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer after meeting with Treasury Secretary Steven
Mnuchin and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.
“We have to have a bill, but they just don’t realize how big it has to be,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
Republicans have been fighting to trim the $600 jobless benefit in the next coronavirus package, but their resolve weakened with the looming expiration of the popular benefit — and as Trump indicated that he supports keeping the full $600 benefit for now.
“We want a temporary extension of enhanced unemployment benefits,” Trump said at the White House. “This will provide a critical bridge for Americans who lost their jobs to the pandemic through no fault of their own.”
During the two-hour meeting at the Capitol, Trump’s team offered a weeklong extension. But Democrats have so far rejected a piecemeal approach, saying the next relief bill needs to move as a complete package. The sides agreed to talk again Friday and into the weekend.
Before Trump spoke, top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell adjourned the chamber for the weekend while taking a procedural step that could allow voting on a potential compromise next week. Negotiators reported at least some progress.
“The speaker and Sen. Schumer said — and we feel the same way — that it is our objective to try to reach an agreement that’s good for the American people,” Mnuchin said after a two-hour meeting in Pelosi’s office.
There continues to be agreement among Washington’s top power players that Congress must pass further relief in the coming days and weeks.
Trump is eager for another round of relief and it’s also a priority for such GOP allies as McConnell,
as well as Pelosi and Schumer, D-N.Y. Democrats hold a strong negotiating hand — exploiting GOP divisions over more aid — and they are expected to deliver a necessary trove of votes.
Raising the stakes, a bleak government report released Thursday said the economy shrank at a 33% annualized rate in the second quarter of the year, a stark reminder of the economic damage afflicting the country as lawmakers debate the size and scope of new relief.
“This jarring news should compel Congress to move swiftly to provide targeted and temporary assistance to unemployed Americans, employers, and state and local governments, and liability protections for businesses that follow public health guidelines,” said Neal Bradley of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the powerful business group.
But bipartisan talks have yet to reach a serious, productive phase. Democrats are playing hardball, insisting on a package that’s far larger than the $1 trillion-plus measure unveiled by McConnell on Monday.