Having put his foot down against the House Democrats' latest $3 trillion coronavirus bailout bill, preferring a pause for evaluation of the $2.2 trillion in Phase 3, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is adamant expanded unemployment benefits are a non-starter.
McConnell vowed in a call with House Republicans, the Senate will "clean up the Democrats’ crazy policy that is paying people more to remain unemployed than they would earn if they went back to work," sources told The Hill.
"This will not be in the next bill," McConnell said, per the report.
"If we do another bill it won't look anything like the House Democrats' bill."
The relief bill passed in March is still paying the unemployed an additional $600 a week for roughly four months into July, something Senate Republicans failed to block.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told President Donald Trump to not bend in negotiations with House Democrats on expanded unemployment payments that incentivize people not to work.
"I asked him not to agree to that," Graham said, per The Hill. "That we can't. You can extend some assistance, but you don't want to pay people more unemployed than they made working."
The House Democrats' $3 trillion bill passed last Friday would extend the extra $600 payment through Jan. 31, 2021 – something sure to keep unemployment rates very high through the next presidential election.
"There is broad agreement among economists that Congress needs to pass much more stimulus to help the economy recover," Rep. Don Beyer, D-Va., argued, per The Hill. "Cutting back federal assistance at the height of the crisis would mean self-inflicted disaster, devastation, and additional deaths. That must not happen."
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.