Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is admitting that he does support extending unemployment benefits as the coronavirus outbreak continues to spread.
During an interview on CNBC, Mnuchin discussed the financial aspects of the pandemic as he noted their concerns about enhanced unemployment.
Under the CARES Act, unemployed recipients currently receive $600 each week in federal benefits. That amount is in addition to state unemployment benefits. However, Mnuchin insists the federal amount needs to be reduced to reflect an amount similar to the wages recipients received while working.
“We’ve been very clear. We knew there was a problem with enhanced unemployment and, in certain cases, people were paid more than they made in their jobs.” Mnuchin said.
He continued, “That was a technical fix. We were in an emergency. We went along with that. We’re going to fix that technical fix. We’re going to make sure people are incented to go back to jobs.”
While Mnuchin suggested that unemployment benefits will be extended, lawmakers are still working to improve the system.
“We’ll fix that and we’ll figure out an extension to it that works for companies and works for those people who will still be unemployed,” Mnuchin said.
See Mnuchin’s remarks below:
Mnuchin’s remarks come as Democrats call for an extension of unemployment benefits. However, Republicans have opposed the extension arguing that it disincentivizes returning to work, as previously reported on IJR.
Mnuchin also expressed similar concerns as he revealed possible changes that could be implemented to prevent the same problem, going forward.
When asked if the technical fix would likely be equivalent to previous wages, Mnuchin said, “You can assume that it will be no more than 100%.”
Mnuchin also believes the country is “in a dramatically different situation” compared to March and April. While statistics do suggest a relatively different situation, it may not be in the context Mnuchin refers to.
As of Thursday afternoon, there are nearly 3.2 million Americans known to be infected with the coronavirus.
While 40–45% of people infected are asymptomatic and a growing percentage of positive tests are in younger people, health experts warn there are no studies to indicate whether or not there are longterm effects associated with being infected with the virus despite no symptoms at the onset.
Multiple states have seen such significant increases they have opted to scale back reopening which could also impact some workers’ ability to work.
