With the economy cratering in late March, Congress swiftly and unanimously passed a $2.2 trillion bill to cushion the blow to businesses and individuals ravaged by the coronavirus and resulting lockdowns.

Some politicians, notably Sens. Ben Sasse of Nebraska and Marco Rubio of Florida, warned of the danger in paying laid-off workers $600 a week on top of regular unemployment benefits. “It appears that when you look at the interaction of different programs in this bill, there are multiple cases where folks would get more money, and in some cases significantly more money, by being unemployed than if the employer-employee relationship were maintained,” Sasse warned.