Rep. Raja
Krishnamoorthi
“It is a
mess,” said Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-lll.), noting that his office has begun
to field calls from desperate families who will receive their final extra
unemployment benefits within days. | AP Photo/Andrew Harnik
'It's a mess': Congress prepares to lurch over
unemployment aid cliff
Capitol Hill is consumed with finger-pointing and
frustration, as millions of Americans are set to lose an economic lifeline.
By SARAH
FERRIS and ANDREW DESIDERIO
07/22/2020
07:42 PM EDT
A
dysfunctional Congress is about to go careening off yet another fiscal cliff —
but this will hurt a hell of a lot more than most.
Tens of
millions of unemployed Americans are about to lose their economic lifeline
during the worst recession in 80 years, with eviction protections set to expire
at the same time.
As the
final unemployment checks are set to be processed this weekend, Capitol Hill
has begun to feel some urgency. Still, it’s likely too late, with the two
parties far apart on coronavirus relief legislation. House Democrats passed
their plan two months ago, which would have extended those benefits. But Senate
Republicans just began drafting their bill this week and face real divisions
within their own ranks.
Without
quick action from Congress, the still-growing ranks of America’s unemployed
will receive their final round of an extra $600 benefit within days, with no
certainty about when more help might arrive. And that’s led to finger-pointing
and frustration on Capitol Hill.
“It is a
mess,” said Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-lll.), noting that his office has begun
to field calls from desperate families. “We do have a problem where we’re very
much a kind of crisis-driven culture in Congress, where everybody's holding
whatever they can hostage.”
“Do I think
it’ll lapse? Yeah I do, because the Senate’s not going to get its act together
in time,” Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) added Wednesday.
Lawmakers —
particularly Democrats — said it was hardly surprising in a building where
looming deadlines are routine, and even the threat of a government shutdown
isn’t enough to force action anymore.
But they
say it’s far more maddening in the face of a deadly pandemic that has forced 30
million Americans onto unemployment.
“I think it
reflects poorly that we can’t seem, in the United States Congress, to be able
to get Mitch McConnell to do anything,” said a visibly frustrated Rep. Ben Ray
Luján (D-N.M.), the No. 5 Democrat in the House.
“He’s
facing the urgency that we knew existed a month ago, so I understand the
frustration of the American people. It’s very real,” Luján said, pulling out
his cell phone to show text messages from people seeking help after losing
their jobs and health insurance.
Republicans,
in particular, find themselves in a bind. The House passed a sweeping $3
trillion coronavirus relief package in May, which would have extended the
jobless benefits through January. But GOP leaders immediately dismissed the
proposal as a “liberal wish list,” and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell
(R-Ky.) favored a pause in new stimulus money while lawmakers evaluated the
effectiveness of the previous multi-trillion-dollar package passed in March.
Republicans
have also said the extra $600 per week creates a disincentive for people to
return to work because many Americans are making more money on unemployment
insurance than they would at their normal jobs. But they favor extending the
benefits in some form, noting that several states have seen surges in
coronavirus cases, preventing much of the public from returning to work.
“You can’t
ignore the large number of businesses that have come to us saying that it is
having an impact on their ability to hire workers,” Senate Small Business
Committee Chairman Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) told reporters. “It’s not an easy
needle to thread.”
"I
want to help people, but you can’t pay them more not to work than they were
making when they were working,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) added. “But having
said that, it ends in July, so I’d be willing to make an extension, but I would
like to change the model.”
Both GOP
and Democratic leaders have vowed to protect the extra federal unemployment
benefits in some way, with Democrats fighting to renew it while Republicans
demand some reforms. And those jobless benefits are among the top priorities as
negotiations began this week on a fifth round of coronavirus relief aid.
It’s the
first set of bipartisan talks in months, though lawmakers of both parties
acknowledged that they have known for some time that they’d be staring down
this exact deadline this summer.
The reason
is clear, lawmakers say. Congress needs to be just inches from the edge of a
cliff before taking any action on it.
“It’s often
hard to get momentum to get anything done until there’s a looming deadline,”
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), a freshman lawmaker, said in a brief interview. “I
think it’s partly by design, to be honest with you. You see leadership on both
sides wait until they can find an inflection point and then try to push hard.”
“This is a
dysfunctional Senate,” added Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.). “It’s just
outrageous that Sen. McConnell has refused to take up that or any portion of it
to relieve anxiety.”
Senate GOP
leaders on Wednesday presented their rank-and-file members with a draft of
their latest relief proposal. That plan is expected to include a temporary flat
payment of some total for unemployment insurance for two months, intended to
give states time to adjust their own systems.
McConnell
has said he doesn’t expect a bipartisan deal to make it through Congress for at
least two weeks — a time frame that would mean at least one federal
unemployment check, and possibly more, would be delayed.
People on
unemployment would still be able to receive state benefits, though those
average weekly benefits are roughly $300 per week.
The
imminent threat to the more generous federal benefits program prompted several
GOP senators on Wednesday to begin discussing how to get Congress to do what it
does best — punt the problem.
Sens. Rob
Portman (R-Ohio) and John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) confirmed earlier Wednesday that
initial discussions were underway on a temporary extension of the jobless aid
program, which would prevent a lapse in benefits and buy more time to
negotiate.
“If we
can't get it all done by next week, we cannot allow there to be a cliff in the
unemployment insurance,” Portman said, rattling off dire statistics like the 11
percent unemployment rate.
By signing
up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can
unsubscribe at any time. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google
Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Oregon Sen.
Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, dismissed the idea
of a short-term patch on Wednesday, effectively halting the idea in its tracks.
“They
stalled and stalled and stalled, and now when people are going to be hurting
this weekend, they’re deflecting attention,” Wyden said.
Many
rank-and-file Democrats say they are willing to compromise on the extra $600
per week, saying they would be open to less money as long as there is no lapse
in benefits. Others say they won’t back down on that number.
“We cannot
let it lapse entirely. We’re already in an economic free fall. We will be in
the worst economic free fall ever if we let this lapse,” said Rep. Susan Wild
(D-Pa.), noting that many in her hard-scrabble Pennsylvania district are
calling her office to ask about what will happen.
“I’m
terrified about it,” she said. “The bottom could fall out because of this.”
John
Bresnahan contributed to this report.
Sem comentários:
Enviar um comentário