The CARES Act's weekly $600 unemployment benefits that have supported more than 30 million Americans affected by the coronavirus pandemic is set to expire in 10 days if Congress does not decide to extend the duration. US Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, however, does not seem to be focused on finding a solution to help the citizens.
Unemployment Benefits
Currently, the Senate is taking their recess and will promptly return to work on July 20 and McConnell said on Monday in an interview with reporters he had no immediate plans to initiate formal talks about the stimulus package, as reported by Salon.
Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, allegedly told his caucus that McConnell has not discussed any negotiations about the coronavirus.
If the situation continues to follow McConnell's timeline, the Senate and White House officials would have less than a week to discuss and come to agreements about the legislation before the unemployment benefits return to the rate they were before the pandemic, which was maxed at less than $300 every week for some states.
On Tuesday, Representative Don Beyer stated McConnell may have let down the millions of Americans that relied on the unemployment benefits with a sudden and immediate decline in income that will come by the end of July.
Beyer added that since the Senate has to make a decision by July 25 to extend the unemployment benefits for it to be processed on time, McConnell's statement that they will start discussions next week makes the end of the weekly financial support imminent.
Too much money
According to CNBC, Republicans are intent on letting the weekly unemployment benefit end due to its generosity as well as their desire to encourage people to go back to work and not rely on government support.
The Labor Department stated that there are currently about 32 million Americans that are receiving unemployment benefits. Among critics, the major problem they see is the amount of money citizens earn from not having a job surpasses that when they were working which is especially true for lower-wage individuals.
The University of Chicago published a paper in May that showed around two-thirds of eligible workers collecting unemployment benefits which would have exceeded their earnings from their jobs. The study also revealed that a fifth of the individuals would have doubled their financial earnings.
Senator John Cornyn stated that the government should not be paying its citizens not to work, but rather, politicians should work on how to help people get back to work or find jobs.
Between May and June, a significant surge of job gains was recorded which totalled approximately 7.5 million that urged Republicans to have a firm stance about not extending the weekly unemployment benefits and to start promoting laid-off citizens to return to work.
One of the ways politicians discussed is giving a cash bonus to individuals who return to work. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that a potential new unemployment subsidy would be expected not to exceed 100 percent of an individual's lost wages.
In an interview with reporters, Mnuchin noted the government would not be doing the same as the previous CARES Act as the nation is in a dramatically different situation. Mnuchin said that several businesses have reopened, giving more opportunities for people to be hired.
