Key Democratic leaders have proposed future unemployment benefit expansions that significantly exceed even recent pandemic policies, which resulted in a record $900 billion in state and federal unemployment benefits paid in 2020 and 2021.

For example, instead of enacting more temporary federal benefit expansions like those in the pandemic, in April 2021 Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO) proposed permanent expansions in state and federal benefits. A Biden administration official, Michele Evermore of the U.S. Department of Labor, testified in July that such changes were needed before the next recession, so that the system would “respond automatically” and “Congress would not be required to enact discretionary UI legislation in downturns.” But history suggests caution for anyone who believes such permanent expansions would mark the end of future temporary benefit increases.