Unemployed workers’ extra $600 benefit is about to expire — but Democrats have new plans

Unemployed Washington residents now receiving an extra $600 a week in jobless benefits are facing a sudden loss of that payment at the end of the month, but Democratic plans would keep the money coming in as long as the economy remains in turmoil.

The proposals, which so far have received virtually no Republican support, would tie the benefits to the state of the economy.

The $600 a week, which is added to the state’s regular benefit, is a federal program created in March to provide a lifeline to jobless people as the coronavirus pandemic sent the economy into a tailspin.

The benefit period ends this week, and that means the maximum payment in Washington would go back to $844 weekly unless Congress and the president act.

Congress returned to work Monday after a July recess, and lawmakers and the White House are scrambling to come up with a broad economic relief package that is likely to include some sort of relief for unemployed workers.

Moderate Democrats are prepared to unveil a plan later this week would maintain the $600 payment as long as the presidential emergency is in effect. President Donald Trump declared an emergency because of the coronavirus pandemic on March 13.

Once the emergency ends, the payments would drop to $450 everywhere for 13 weeks. Following that, it would drop to $200 or $300, depending on the unemployment rate in a state.

The plan has the backing of moderate House Democrats. To simply end the payment, as is now scheduled, “creates uncertainty in what’s already an uncertain time,” said Rep. Derek Kilmer, a Washington Democrat who chairs the centrist New Democrat Coalition. Kilmer is a co-author, along with Rep. Don Beyer, D-Va., of the plan.

Senate Democrats have a somewhat different approach. Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York and Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, would tie benefits directly to a state’s unemployment rate.

If the rate stayed over 11% for three months, the $600 weekly payment would continue. Once the average dropped, so would the payment. For every percentage point decrease, the payment would be reduced by $100 a week.

Washington’s unemployment rates over the last three months were 16.3% in April, 15.1% in May and 9.8% in June. The average would probably qualify unemployed state residents for the $600 payment. But if the average dropped to between 9% and 10%, that amount would drop to $500.

Resistance to all this is likely in the Republican-run Senate, where many GOP lawmakers have long been opposed to the special payment. They argue it often means people can make more money not working, and studies have found that’s often the case.

“We’re hearing it all over the country that it’s made it harder actually to get people back to work,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, told reporters earlier this month.

Monday, he would not say what could be in the economic relief package, other than some sort of liability protection for businesses and others who deal with the public during the pandemic.

“As to what will be in or out of it, as I’ve said repeatedly for myself, and I believe for my members and I believe for the president, liability reform, liability protection is a red line. And we also are going to have a total amount (of money in the entire package) in mind that we think makes sense given the conditions we confront today,” he told reporters.

A University of Chicago study in May found that nationally, construction workers and retail, sales and food service workers, as well as medical assistants and janitors often were getting more in jobless payments than they earned while working.

Unemployment insurance traditionally tries to provide enough income for jobless workers so they can continue to live comfortably but still have an incentive to find a job.

Kilmer, along with other Democrats, maintains that these times are much different. Because of the coronavirus, “You certainly don’t want unemployed workers out pounding the pavement,” he said, since even leaving one’s home could pose a health risk.

Nor does he want the sort of situation unemployment workers faced during and after the Great Recession of 2007-09, when Congress extended the number of available weeks of benefits 13 times.

This story was originally published July 21, 2020 at 5:00 AM.