Name: Trump Is Willing to Let Boosted Unemployment Expire for 36 Million Out of Work
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Trump Is Willing to Let Boosted Unemployment Expire for 36 Million Out of Work

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SharePrisons &amp; PolicingPolitics &amp; ElectionsRacial JusticePolitics &amp; ElectionsEnvironment &amp; HealthPolitics &amp; ElectionsPresident Donald Trump told Republican senators during a private lunch Tuesday that he is willing to let expanded unemployment benefits expire at the end of July, a decision that would the incomes of tens of millions of people who have lost their jobs due to the Covid-19 crisis.The Washington Post Tuesday that the president “privately expressed opposition to extending a weekly $600 boost in unemployment insurance for laid-off workers affected by the coronavirus pandemic, according to three officials familiar with his remarks.”House Democrats passed legislation last week that would extend the beefed-up unemployment benefits through January of 2021 as experts and government officials — including Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell — the U.S. unemployment rate could soon reach 25%. The unemployment insurance boost under the CARES Act is set to expire on July 31, even as their first check.“With nearly 1 in 5 Americans out of work, Donald Trump’s plan is to cut off the boost to unemployment benefits and shower his wealthy buddies with more tax cuts,” Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), one of the architects of the unemployment insurance expansion, HuffPost. “This is the worst economic crisis in 100 years and Donald Trump is doubling down on Herbert Hoover’s economic playbook and pushing workers to risk their health for his political benefit.”just staggeringly cruel— Kaila Hale-Stern (@kailahalestern)Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) — who earlier this month that Congress will only extend the boosted unemployment insurance “over our dead bodies” — said after the private lunch that Trump believes the benefits are “hurting the economic recovery.” Graham was one of several Republican senators who the initial expansion of unemployment benefits as too generous.An released last week by the Hamilton Project, an initiative of the Brookings Institution, found that expanded unemployment benefits offset “roughly half of lost wages and salaries in April.” Unemployment insurance has “been essential to families, and is vital for keeping the economy from cratering further,” the authors of the analysis noted.Ernie Tedeschi, a former Treasury Department economist, that “come July 31, if the emergency UI top-up isn’t extended, unemployed workers will effectively get a pay cut of 50-75% overnight.”“It’s increasingly looking like there won’t be enough labor demand to hire them all back at that point,” Tedeschi tweeted.The latest Labor Department statistics showed that in the U.S. have filed jobless claims since mid-March as mass layoffs continue in the absence of government action to keep workers on company payrolls. Despite the grim numbers, the Post’s Jeff Stein reported Tuesday that the White House is “” as it resists additional efforts to provide relief to frontline workers and the unemployed.On top of rejecting an extension of enhanced unemployment insurance, Trump last month to another round of direct stimulus payments, instead advocating a cut to the tax that funds Social Security and Medicare.As the Trump administration pushes states to reopen amid the coronavirus pandemic, the Labor Department is to help employers report workers who refuse to return to their jobs out of fear of contracting Covid-19. The Labor Department that “general concern” about coronavirus infection is not sufficient grounds to refuse work and still receive unemployment benefits.On Tuesday, Wyden and nearly two dozen other Senate Democrats to Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia demanding that the department “make clear that individuals cannot be forced to choose between keeping their income and putting their lives in danger.”This piece was reprinted by Truthout with permission or license. It may not be reproduced in any form without permission or license from the source.RelatedEven before the pandemic, family poverty forced over 22 million children to rely on free or reduced-fee school meals.Unemployment jumped to 14.7 percent last month, and the economic crisis may not ease until 2023, some economists warn.There may be political motivations behind the president’s goal to reopening the nation’s economy.Get daily news, in-depth reporting and critical analysis from the journalists, activists and thinkers who are working to improve our world..

SharePrisons &amp; PolicingPolitics &amp; ElectionsRacial JusticePolitics &amp; ElectionsEnvironment &amp; HealthPolitics &amp; ElectionsPresident Donald Trump told Republican senators during a private lunch Tuesday that he is willing to let expanded unemployment benefits expire at the end of July, a decision that would the incomes of tens of millions of people who have lost their jobs due to the Covid-19 crisis.The Washington Post Tuesday that the president “privately expressed opposition to extending a weekly $600 boost in unemployment insurance for laid-off workers affected by the...

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Jake Johnson is a staff writer for Common Dreams.

https://www.commondreams.org/author/jake-johnson-staff-writer

Jake Johnson

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Trump Is Willing to Let Boosted Unemployment Expire for 36 Million Out of Work

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