$200 short-term jobless supplement proposed by GOP
WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans on Thursday began moving on a temporary extension of expanded unemployment insurance to keep that financial lifeline while negotiations on a broader coronavirus relief bill continued to stumble.
Leaving a lunch Thursday, GOP senators appeared to be coalescing around a proposal drafted by Sens. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and Mike Braun, R-Ind., that would continue the expanded jobless benefits at $200 per week or an amount about two-thirds of an individual’s average wage, rather than the current $600-per-week supplement approved by Congress in March. The Republicans’ plan was not finalized.
But the rapid shift in strategy reflected the pressure that Republicans are facing as the expanded jobless benefits are set to expire today. On Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., took procedural steps to set up a legislative path to swiftly pass any short-term extension of jobless benefits should there be a plan that
could pass the Senate.
President Donald Trump on Wednesday urged Congress to quickly approve some extension in unemployment benefits and a federal eviction moratorium that expired last week.
“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.”
He added: “It has to be substantial.”
LITTLE PROGRESS
White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said Thursday that Trump would support a one-week extension of unemployment benefits at $600. Meadows and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin also have expressed alarm about letting the unemployment benefit expire altogether.
Democrats have so far rejected a piecemeal approach, saying the next relief bill needs to move as a complete package. Before Trump spoke, McConnell adjourned the chamber for the weekend while acting to allow voting on a potential compromise next week. Talks so far have yielded little progress.
“I’m not very optimistic that we will have any kind of an agreement on a comprehensive bill in the near future,” Meadows said. He said he doubted a deal could be struck even next week.
“I think there is a sensitivity to the cliff that we’re facing,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, told reporters Thursday.
The move by McConnell, senators said, was primarily meant to try to break the Senate’s logjam over not only the expiring benefits but on a broader relief package meant to address the economic and public health crisis imposed by the novel coronavirus. The proposal by Johnson and Braun is slightly less generous than that of Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, that was released Monday.
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, approved by Congress in March gave every person on unemployment a $600-perweek payment on top of their typical state unemployment allocation, but the additional federal benefit expires today. The Johnson-Braun proposal would give states the option of extending that benefit at $200 per week instead of $600.
It also allows states to switch to a complicated wage replacement scheme in which the state and federal government would provide a replacement of two-thirds of what the worker was making before losing a job.
PLENTY OF POLITICS
Democrats continued to reject the Republicans’ latest play, noting that the emerging plan on temporary jobless benefits was less generous than what had been included in a $1 trillion Senate Republican plan released this week.
“The bottom line is very simple,” said Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. “This new proposal moves things even backward. Instead of a 30% cut from what people are getting, it’s a 33% cut. And we all know that the proposal that is in existence now has kept millions out of poverty.”
Earlier, McConnell and Schumer exchanged the worst criticism yet of each other’s coronavirus relief proposals — clouding the prospects of even a short-term deal. The political acrimony also came as statistics released Thursday showed that the U.S. economy shrank 9.5% from April to June.
“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 who follow public health guidelines,” said Neal Bradley of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
A trio of conservative senators led by Johnson took to the floor to try to unanimously pass his temporary unemployment insurance proposal.
That effort was summarily blocked by Schumer, who led a group of Democrats to try to unanimously pass the $3 trillion Democratic coronavirus plan that the House cleared in May. That, too, was blocked — this time by Republicans.
The procedural back-andforth was not meant to enact policy, but rather to help further the political blame game as Congress prepared to leave town without an agreement. And a pair of dueling speeches on the Senate floor from its top leaders also appeared to be aimed at setting up political blame as Congress remained on the cusp of failure to reach a deal as expanded jobless benefits for about 20 million Americans were set to expire.
One Republican pollster, who spoke on condition of anonymity to freely discuss private conversations, said there is growing alarm among GOP lawmakers about the political consequences of letting the unemployment benefits lapse.
TALKS CONTINUE
The approaching deadline amounts to a financial cliff for consumers that could send the economy reeling. Republicans have increasingly talked up a potential short-term extension of the jobless benefits as negotiations continue on a larger deal, but Democrats — who have had a comprehensive plan since May — have refused that option.
In a floor speech earlier Thursday, McConnell criticized the $3 trillion Democratic plan as a “totally unserious proposal” and accused Democratic leaders of refusing to allow their rank-andfile members to engage in discussions with Republicans.
McConnell was followed by Schumer, who noted that the majority leader said that about 20 GOP senators are expected to oppose any plan and that Republicans had wasted precious time in responding to the pandemic, which has killed more than 151,000 people in the United States.
“The House speaker moves the goal posts while the Democratic leader hides the football,” McConnell said. “They won’t engage when the administration tries to discuss our comprehensive plan. They won’t engage when the administration floats a narrower proposal. They basically won’t engage, period.”
Schumer said Republicans “dithered for months” and then released a “halfbaked, halfhearted proposal of half-measures.”
He also noted that the main negotiations were among him, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Meadows and Mnuchin — and not McConnell.
“I would remind him, he refuses to go into the room when Speaker Pelosi, Secretary Mnuchin, Chief of Staff Meadows and I sit in there,” Schumer said. “Once again, Sen. McConnell engages in ‘Alice in Wonderland’ tactics and speeches and words. What he says is exactly the opposite of what is true.”
In an interview late Wednesday, McConnell showed a willingness to consider some Democratic priorities, such as additional food aid. He and Trump have made plain they are intent on getting a bill.
“The economy does need more help. We have divided government. We have to talk to each other,” McConnell said on the “PBS NewsHour.” “And we have to try to get an outcome.”
The principals — Pelosi, Schumer, Mnuchin and Meadows — were scheduled to meet again Thursday night. The late meeting was to accommodate the House speaker, who traveled to Atlanta for the funeral of Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., who died July 17.
Meadows met with McConnell in his Capitol office Thursday afternoon. The White House chief of staff spoke about the short-term deal that addresses the expiring benefits.
“But it seems like the Democrats both in the House and in the Senate want to have their $3.1 trillion special-interest package passed at the expense of enhanced unemployment for many people who are still needing that,” Meadows said. “I fail to see the logic. I fail to see the compassion.”
One Republican pollster, who spoke on condition of anonymity to freely discuss private conversations, said there is growing alarm among GOP lawmakers about the political consequences of letting the unemployment benefits lapse.