Unemployment benefits: Senate Democrats seek to reduce the weekly increase, but add a month of payments to the stimulus bill

Unemployment benefits: Senate Democrats seek to reduce the weekly increase, but add a month of payments to the stimulus bill

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The new agreement would also make the first $ 10,200 in tax-free benefits.

This is a significant change from the House bill, which would provide an extra $ 400 a week until August 29 and would continue both pandemic programs for the same period. The House bill does not contain a tax provision.

But West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin – the Democrats’ 50th crucial vote – still doesn’t support the plan, but he does support a Republican proposal to extend federal benefits of $ 300 a week until July.

Progress on the general bill was halted on Friday afternoon, as senators negotiated the issue.

The Senate on Friday voted on a series of amendments in a process known as “vote-a-rama” before moving on to the final vote on the entire aid package.

Extension of special pandemic programs

The Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program provides benefits for freelancers, concert workers, independent contractors and certain people affected by the pandemic, while the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation program extends the duration of payments to those in the state’s traditional unemployment system.

Congress created these two temporary programs, along with a four-month $ 600 weekly boost in its $ 2 trillion aid package nearly a year ago to help cushion workers laid off during the pandemic-fueled economic crisis. . The programs were extended and the $ 300 weekly increase was added as part of the legislators’ $ 900 billion relief agreement approved in December.
Emphasizing that millions of struggling Americans remain out of work, President Joe Biden called for a $ 400 increase and continuation of programs until the end of September, as part of the massive aid package he revealed just before taking office.

Asked about the Senate Dem unemployment insurance deal, a senior government official said the White House is “definitely fine with it” and pointed out that earning the first $ 10,200 in benefits no longer being taxable was “something that the government was trying to figure out how to address it. ”

Running towards the deadline

The divergences in the Senate and House bills, however, are yet another issue that the two chambers need to resolve before sending the final legislation to the president for signature.

The self-imposed deadline by lawmakers on March 14 for approval of the aid package is fast approaching. That’s when unemployed Americans will start running out of benefits under both programs, which will be phased out over the next month. The $ 300 raise also ends next weekend.

It is estimated that 11.4 million workers will lose their unemployment benefits between mid-March and mid-April, unless Congress takes action, a recent study by The Century Foundation concluded.

Even if lawmakers complete the bill in the next few days, some unemployed Americans may see a drop in benefits, as it may take a few weeks for state unemployment agencies to program the new provisions in their systems.

CNN’s Manu Raju and Phil Mattingly contributed to this report.

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