- Senate Democrats reached an agreement Friday night on unemployment insurance.
- The new plan would provide $ 300 weekly unemployment benefits through September 6, reducing one month.
- It would also provide tax relief for people earning up to $ 150,000.
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Senate Democrats brokered a deal on Friday night on unemployment insurance, removing a major barrier to the $ 1.9 trillion stimulus plan. This potentially establishes the final vote on relief legislation sometime on Saturday.
Two Democratic aides told Insider that the new plan would provide $ 300 in federal unemployment benefits by September 6. It would also waive tax payments for the first $ 10,200 in unemployment benefits for people earning up to $ 150,000.
Both spoke on condition of anonymity to share internal discussions.
Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia did not support a new Democratic plan that would provide unemployment benefits until the end of September and exempt the first $ 10,200 in unemployment benefits for each person from tax. His opposition disrupted the Senate debate over the aid plan for nearly nine hours.
“The president made it clear that we will have enough vaccines for all Americans by the end of May and I am confident that the economic recovery will follow,” said Manchin in a statement. “We have reached an agreement that allows the economy to recover quickly and, at the same time, protect those receiving unemployment insurance from being hit by unexpected taxes next year.”
Some experts have expressed concern that the federal government has removed the unemployment benefit plug as the economy slowly recovers lost jobs as the pandemic subsides.
“We need unemployment benefits until the labor markets are recovered,” Elizabeth Pancotti, director of policies for Employ America, told Insider. “I don’t think there is a person who thinks the job market will recover until Labor Day. People are choosing dates from the hat until they have enough votes for them.”
Senate Democrats appear to be another step closer to fulfilling the first important part of President Joe Biden’s legislative agenda. Your relief account includes $ 1,400 stimulus checks for most taxpayers; $ 300 federal unemployment benefits through August; $ 200 billion in funding for schools; and funding for vaccines and virus tests.
In the equally divided Senate, Democrats control the chamber due to Vice President Kamala Harris’ tie-breaking power. But the ideological cracks that began to emerge on Friday may foreshadow other obstacles as they try to implement other parts of their agenda, including infrastructure and voting rights.
“I think this is an indication of how we will see the Senate operate over the next two years,” Jim Manley, a former Democratic aide, recently told Insider. “The irony of all this is that this project would be the easiest and everything that would come would be much more difficult.