Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., who will soon serve as chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, is backing a $600 increase in weekly unemployment benefits.
“My starting point here is going to be my legislation that would reinstate the full $600 weekly and tie additional weeks of benefits and the program for gig workers to economic conditions,” he said in a statement, according to CNBC.
“There’s so much work to do, and the Senate can’t be revisiting economic relief every two or three months.”
The pandemic relief law, signed by President Donald Trump in December, provides a $300-a-week payment for jobless individuals and extended benefits for self-employed and gig workers through March.
Republicans had maintained that a $600 supplement would keep people from working. But CNBC noted a recent Yale University study found that a $600 jump in weekly unemployment benefits didn’t discourage people from job hunting during the spring and summer when the prior boost was in place.
President-elect Joe Biden wants Congress to send more money to families facing economic woes due to the pandemic, CNBC noted. And a $600 boost to unemployment is considered more likely now that the Democrats will control Congress.
Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
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