White House chief of staff Mark Meadows revealed on Sunday that Republicans have no intentions of extending the original unemployment insurance measure amid the coronavirus outbreak.
The host of ABC’s “This Week” George Stephanopoulos noted unemployment benefits are expiring this week, and Republicans have yet to produce a proposal to counter Democrats’.
He asked Meadows if the $600 in additional unemployment benefits will be extended.
Meadows suggested the boost in unemployment benefits allowed Americans to receive more money staying home instead of working.
“The original benefits will not. The original unemployment benefits actually paid people to stay home and actually a lot of people got more money staying at home than they would going back to work,” Meadows said.
He added, “So the president has been very clear, our Republican senators have been very clear, we’re not going to extend that provision.”
Watch his comments below:
Asked whether expiring federal unemployment benefits will be extended, WH Chief of Staff Mark Meadows says "The original benefits will not… We are going to be prepared, on Monday, to provide unemployment insurance extension that would be 70% of wages." https://t.co/qxICVVlxra pic.twitter.com/cDY6VWjXNN
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) July 26, 2020
In place of extending the original benefits, the Trump administration is prepared to cover up to 70% of Americans’ wages.
“We are going to be prepared on Monday to provide unemployment insurance extension that would be 70% of whatever the wages you were prior to being unemployed, that it would reimburse you for up to 70% of those wages,” Meadows said.
He continued, “Hopefully as a way to get people back on their feet.”
Stephanopoulos argued unemployment administrators believe it is not possible to administer and Americans are going to face “real gaps” before they receive assistance.
Meadows explained, “We’ll be able to find a way to actually provide a threshold that will meet that guideline.”
He indicated he has been working with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to put the “final touches” on a bill that Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is planning to introduce on Monday.
According to the CARES Act, the original end date for these unemployment benefits is July 31. Still, according to the U.S. Labor Department, states have to make payments no later than the week ending one week before July 31, as IJR previously reported.
