Senate Democratic leaders on Wednesday proposed extending the $600 unemployment bonus payment beyond its July 31 expiration date and having it phase down based on state unemployment rates.
“If we fail to renew the $600-per-week increase in [unemployment insurance], millions of American families will have their legs cut out from underneath them at the worst possible time — in the middle of a pandemic, when unemployment is higher than it’s been since the Great Depression,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York when announcing the bill, which he introduced with Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, the top Democrat on the finance committee.
The March CARES Act provided extra $600 weekly payments in addition to regular unemployment insurance, but they’re set to expire after July 31. It is a flat payment that does not take into account former salary levels or whether the worker was part time or full time.
A large majority of recipients would earn more from benefits than from work if the $600-a-week pandemic unemployment benefit boost is extended past its July expiration, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated earlier this month.
Sens. Schumer and Wyden seek to extend the bonus payment until a state’s unemployment rate falls below 6%.
Under their plan, after a state’s three-month unemployment rate average falls below 11%, the $600 payment would be reduced by $100 for each percentage-point decrease after that. It would end after a state’s jobless rate drops below 6%.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, has said that he does not want to extend the payments in a new coronavirus relief package, which the chamber could approve later this month.
The CARES Act also extended state unemployment insurance benefits an additional 13 weeks. The payments are for jobless workers who are eligible for regular state unemployment insurance but have exhausted their 12 weeks of regular benefits.
The Democrats’ bill would extend this payment until March 27, 2021, or when a state’s unemployment rate falls below 5.5%. It would also extend these payments further if a state’s unemployment rate rises.
