monday, july 27 , 2020. the washington post eZ re A
have been overwhelmed pro-
cessing the benefit applications
of the 20 million to 30 million
unemployed Americans. Some
experts have suggested that
switching t o a new system would
be time consuming and difficult,
but meadows said officials have
been discussing it and think it
could be done if the federal
government steps in to help
state unemployment offices.
“It’s our goal to make sure that
it’s not antiquated computers
that keep people from getting
their benefits,” meadows said.
mnuchin said the package
Senate republicans will unveil
monday will have a number of
elements, including aid for
schools, another round of stimu-
lus checks to individuals and tax
credits to encourage companies
to rehire workers, among other
things.
White House National Eco-
nomic Council Director Larry
Kudlow said on CNN that the
70 percent unemployment for-
mula should be considered
“quite generous by any stan-
dard.”
The U.S. economy contracted
sharply earlier this year because
of the coronavirus pandemic,
with many state and local gov-
ernments, as well as businesses,
shedding workers and cutting
spending. more than 20 million
Americans lost their jobs in
April.
Congress approved roughly
$3 trillion in new spending and
tax cuts to try to prevent the
economy from completely col-
lapsing, with additional aid pro-
vided by the federal reserve.
The economy showed signs of
recovering in may and June, but
a new surge in coronavirus cases
and a rise in deaths have led
many states to pause reopening
plans and revealed f resh signs of
economic weakness.
The path to another agree-
ment could be narrow. Sen. Lind-
sey o. Graham (r-S.C.) said Sun-
day on fox News that “half the
republicans are going to vote no
to any” stimulus package.
“That’s just a fact,” he said.
“A nd a lot of Democrats are
going to insist on $3 trillion,
which w ould be way too m uch. It
would be wasted money.”
[email protected]
[email protected]say whether Democrats would
accept an amount lower than
$600 per week.
“You don’t go into a negotia-
tion with a red line,” Pelosi said.
“But you do go in with your
values.”
Pelosi also said the liability
protections the GoP wants to
put in the legislation would put
workers at risk, removing the
onus from companies to ensure
that workers don’t contract the
coronavirus while they are on
the job.
“What they’re saying to essen-
tial workers: ‘You have to go to
work because you’re essential.
We place no responsibility on
your employer to make that
workplace safe, and if you get
sick you have no recourse,’ ” she
said.
State unemployment officesbeneficiary based on what their
earnings were before they lost
their job.
Some economists say the new
formula would effectively take
the $600 weekly payment to
about $200 a week, though
mnuchin stressed S unday that it
would vary from person to per-
son.
Pelosi on Sunday declined toextend the full $ 600 -per-week
benefit, which they insist pro-
vides a disincentive for people to
go back to work. Instead they
have discussed a formula that
would amount to 70 percent
wage replacement of the salary a
worker was getting paid before
getting laid off. mnuchin sug-
gested on Sunday that the feder-
al payment would vary for eachmnuchin and meadows, mcCon-
nell has not demonstrated pub-
lic support for a piecemeal ap-
proach. Asked for comment Sun-
day, his spokesman pointed to
remarks mcConnell made last
week touting the $1 trillion bill
he plans to unveil monday. The
legislation was supposed to have
been rolled out last Thursday,
but that was called off at the last
minute because of disagreement
over unemployment insurance
and other issues.
The $600 federal unemploy-
ment benefit was created by the
Cares Act, which was approved
by Congress in march. The b ene-
fit is paid on top of whatever
unemployment insurance states
offer, which vary but typically
replace about 45 percent of a
worker’s salary.
republicans do not want toHousing and Urban Develop-
ment is e xpected to be involved in
this effort. A previous four-
month eviction moratorium ex-
pires at the end of the month.
Bipartisan talks on the next
coronavirus package have barely
begun, and the White House and
Senate republicans haven’t e ven
formally offered a GoP plan yet.
House Democrats passed a bill in
may that would extend the $
weekly payments through Janu-
ary, as the unemployment rate
remains above 11 percent.
Pelosi b lasted the GoP inac-
tion and said Democrats have
been waiting to negotiate.
“We’ve been anxious t o negoti-
ate for two months and 10 days
when we put forward our pro-
posal,” Pelosi said on CBS’s “face
the Nation.” “They’re in disarray,
and that delay is causing suffer-
ing for America’s families.”
Senate majority Leader mitch
mcConnell (r-Ky.) intends to roll
out a $1 trillion package on
monday covering a variety of
issues, including a new round of
checks to individual Americans.
But Democrats are demanding a
bill three times that size, and
mcConnell has said it could take
“a few weeks” to reach a deal.
“Honestly I see us being able
to provide unemployment insur-
ance, m aybe a retention c redit to
keep people from being dis-
placed or brought back into the
workplace, helping with our
schools — if we can do that along
with liability protections per-
haps we put that forward, get
that passed as we negotiate on
the rest of the bill in the w eeks to
come,” meadows said on ABC’s
“This Week.”
mnuchin made similar com-
ments on “fox News Sunday.”
“Within the $1 trillion pack-
age, there are certain things that
have time frames that are a
bigger priority. So we could look
at doing an entire deal; we could
also look at doing parts,”
mnuchin said, highlighting fix-
ing unemployment insurance
and a liability shield. “We can
move very quickly with the Dem-
ocrats on these issues. We’ve
moved quickly before.... If
there are issues that take longer,
we’ll deal with those as well.”
Despite the comments from
STiMuluS from A
Top White House o∞cials call for rush in n arrow relief bill
MANuel BAlCe CeNetA/ASSoCiAted PreSS
White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows speaks to reporters at the Capitol on Thursday. After weeks of inaction, White House officials
have displayed a new sense of urgency about the economy in the past week amid signs that the recovery is slowing markedly.“We’ve been anxious to negotiate for two months
and 10 days when we put forward our proposal.
They’re in disarray, and that delay is causing
suffering for America’s families.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D), on CBS’s “Face the Nation”