Biden administration endorses end to enhanced unemployment benefits

The Biden administration alerted lawmakers on Thursday that it will not seek to extend pandemic-induced enhanced jobless benefits, and that it's "appropriate" for the extra $300 a week to expire on Sept. 6, as originally planned, Bloomberg reports.

However, the White House says any state or local government that wants to continue the extra payments can do so using their share of COVID-19 relief funds from the American Rescue Plan, per USA Today.

"The temporary $300 boost in benefits will expire on September 6th, as planned," wrote Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Labor Secretary Marty Walsh in a letter to Senate committee leaders. "As President Biden has said, the boost was always intended to be temporary and it is appropriate for that benefit boost to expire."

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Walsh and Yellen added that there are some states where "it may make sense" for jobless individuals to continue receiving assistance, and noted that "the Delta variant may also pose short-term challenges to local economies and labor markets." Read more at Bloomberg.