TOPLINE
Republicans are all of a sudden expressing more urgency about passing another stimulus package after weeks of pumping the brakes, with a small window of just 11 days in July to act.
Chairman Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) speaks to reporters following a Senate Judiciary Committee … [+] hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, June 9, 2020, to examine Covid-19 fraud.
Andrew Harnik/ASSOCIATED PRESS
KEY FACTS
Because of the Fourth of July holiday and August recess, Congress has just 11 days from July 20 to July 31 for both chambers to come to terms on a bill.
Congress is facing steep pressure to act on several coronavirus relief programs set to expire at the end of the month, including the $600-a-week expanded unemployment program.
“We need to get off our ass and get this done,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Thursday during an interview on Fox News about a new stimulus package.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.)—who has been particularly hesitant about jumping headfirst into another stimulus bill—also indicated this week that July was the month to push a package across the finish line.
For weeks, Republicans have dragged their feet on another bill—preferring a wait-and-see approach for how the economy would recover from the coronavirus shock—while Democrats have sharply criticized the GOP for hesitating.
Still, the two parties are at odds about what a new bill should look like, with one major hangup being the expanded unemployment program; Republicans argue the program deters people from returning to work while Democrats say the economy was so badly damaged by the pandemic that Congress must support unemployed workers who don’t have jobs to which to return.
News peg
Cases are skyrocketing in states across the U.S., especially Texas, Florida, Arizona, California and Alabama. The spike in cases has led some governors to roll back or put a halt to reopening plans, adding pressure on lawmakers to provide further relief.
Big number
The U.S. added 4.8 million jobs last month and the June unemployment rate dipped to 11.1%, but economists note the data was collected at mid-month, meaning it doesn’t reflect the economic impact from the surge in cases in recent weeks and the business closures that followed.
Key background
In May, the Democratic-led House passed the HEROES Act, a sweeping $3 trillion stimulus package that included everything from more stimulus checks to an extension for the expanded unemployment program through the end of January. It faced a quick demise in the Republican-led Senate, with many members of the GOP calling it a “nonstarter.”
What to watch for
What kind of stimulus proposal Republicans coalesce around. President Trump said this week he favors more stimulus checks; McConnell has repeatedly indicated he wants liability protections for employers who could be sued by their employees for getting sick; Graham said Thursday on Fox News he backs infrastructure spending and even a minimum wage increase; Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) has floated the idea of back-to-work bonuses as a replacement for the expanded unemployment program; and Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Tex.) has proposed including a payroll tax cut in a next stimulus bill.
Chief critic
On Wednesday, Senate Democrats put forth a proposal that would extend the expanded unemployment payments until a jobless individual’s state reached 6% unemployment.
But McConnell said Tuesday an extension to the program wouldn’t be included in a next stimulus bill. “Unemployment is extremely important. And we need to make sure, for those who are not able to recover their jobs, unemployment is adequate,” McConnell told reporters Tuesday. “That is a different issue from whether we ought to pay people a bonus not to go back to work. And so I think that was a mistake.”
Surprising fact
The expanded unemployment program and other components of the CARES Act may have helped curb the expected rise in U.S. poverty, according to a study reported by the New York Times. The aid, the Times reports, may have also caused “official measures of poverty to fall.”
Further reading
Trump backs work incentives as part of next stimulus bill (Reuters)
There ‘Definitely’ Will Be Another Stimulus Package, Trump Economic Adviser Says (Forbes)
The big divide over the next stimulus (Axios)
The U.S. Added 4.8 Million Jobs In June, But That’s Not The Whole Story (Forbes)
