The U.S. Capitol stands in Washington, D.C., U.S. on Thursday, Oct. 1, 2020. Talks Thursday between Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin brought no immediate breakthrough on a deal for a new pandemic relief package, while the House prepared to vote on a Democrat-only plan.<\/p>\n
Stefani Reynolds | Bloomberg | Getty Images<\/p>\n
Democrats and Republicans still seem unable to find common ground on enhanced unemployment benefits, more than two months after the expiration of a prior, $600 weekly subsidy that had buoyed household income for millions.<\/p>\n
White House officials and senior congressional Democrats were still trying to hammer out details of a fifth financial relief package through Tuesday afternoon to help counter the negative economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n
President Donald Trump upended those talks around 3 pm E.T. on Tuesday, tweeting that he was instructing White House representatives to cease negotiations until after election day in early November. It wasn't immediately clear whether that was a hard line or a negotiating tactic.<\/p>\n
Unemployment benefits appeared to be a key sticking point in the negotiations, despite consensus in other areas like stimulus checks and aid for small businesses.<\/p>\n
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., at the U.S. Capitol on Oct. 1.<\/p>\n
Chip Somodevilla | Getty Images News | Getty Images<\/p>\n
It's unclear whether congressional Republicans would support a $400-a-week policy or a bill with an overall price tag as high as the White House proposal.<\/p>\n
\"Negotiations are ongoing,\" according to a White House spokesman said Monday. \"The White House continues to reach out to Democrats in good faith to try and reach a deal on delivering relief to American workers.\"<\/p>\n
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin during a Senate hearing on Sept. 24.<\/p>\n
Toni L. Sandys-Pool\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
Some experts remain hopeful lawmakers can still come to an agreement, especially as unemployment remains high seven months into the economic crisis and the presidential election looms in a month's time.<\/p>\n
\"I think there's tremendous pressure on both sides to pass something,\" said Michele Evermore, a senior policy analyst at the National Employment Law Project. \"Nobody wants to go home and campaign on, 'We didn't give you anything.'\"<\/p>\n
Republicans have criticized the supplement as a disincentive to return to work since it paid many people more than they'd earned on the job.<\/p>\n
While anecdotal evidence suggests this may have been the case for some businesses, numerous economic studies found that, in aggregate, the $600 enhancement didn't discourage people from looking for work or accepting job offers.<\/p>\n
\"Expanded UI benefits from the CARES Act appeared to be an important source of aggregate stimulus rather than an impediment to labor market improvement,\" according to a paper published last month by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.<\/p>\n
Democrats want to extend the $600 weekly payments, which come on top of state-allotted aid, to help bolster consumer spending and the U.S. economy as signs have emerged that the recovery is sputtering.<\/p>\n
\"We still have a massive gap in the labor market, and job growth is slowing,\" said Heidi Shierholz, director of policy at the Economic Policy Institute and a former chief economist at the Department of Labor during the Obama administration.<\/p>\n
The unemployment rate fell to 7.9% in September after businesses added 661,000 jobs, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. That rate is down from a 14.7% peak in April, the highest recorded since the Great Depression.<\/p>\n
There are 10.7 million fewer jobs now than in February before the pandemic-induced recession, according to the bureau. The true figure likely exceeds 12 million jobs when factoring in prevailing monthly job growth trends that had been occurring pre-pandemic, Shierholz said.<\/p>\n
President Donald Trump appears intent on passing another relief package before the November election.<\/p>\n
\"OUR GREAT USA WANTS & NEEDS STIMULUS. WORK TOGETHER AND GET IT DONE,\" Trump tweeted Saturday from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, where he'd been receiving treatment for Covid-19.<\/p>\n
The Trump administration had enacted a Lost Wages Assistance program in August that offered a $300 weekly supplement to unemployment benefits for up to six weeks, paid for with federal disaster relief funds. (A few states paid an extra $100, for a total of $400.)<\/p>\n
Workers in some states haven't yet received that aid, however, due to administrative delays. And hundreds of thousands of workers, primarily low-income and part-time workers, weren't eligible for that money due to program guidelines.<\/p>\n
If Congress and the White House reach a deal on unemployment benefits, a relief measure may be delayed by lack of common ground elsewhere, like additional aid for state and local governments. And extra jobless aid would likely only last for a few months.<\/p>\n
\"I do think there's been some progress made, and now it's [down to] whether they'll get something all the way through,\" Andrew Stettner, a senior fellow at the Century Foundation, said of relief talks. \"Even if this thing passes, they'll have to come back to it in December or January.\"<\/p>\n
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Democrats and GOP still fighting over $600 jobless benefits. Where things stand - CNBC<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The U.S. Capitol stands in Washington, D.C., U.S. on Thursday, Oct Continue reading