Senate Republicans reportedly want to cut weekly unemployment boost from $600 to $200 per week

(Image credit: OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Images)

published 27 July 2020

As part of a broader $1 trillion coronavirus relief bill, Republican lawmakers are proposing to cut weekly emergency unemployment benefits established in the previous CARES Act from $600/week to $200/week, people familiar with the unreleased plan told The Washington Post.

Democrats want to extend the $600 figure, which is set to expire this week, until January while the unemployment rate remains high, and many economists think keeping things as they are or even raising the total a bit makes more sense than slashing. But the Senate GOP isn't on board.

The cut would be temporary, however, and is meant to fill the gap between now and until states implement a Republican-favored approach that involves paying workers 70 percent of the income they earned before losing their jobs due to the pandemic. In that scenario, the weekly unemployment boost wouldn't be tied to a specific number, but would vary for individuals. Read more at The Washington Post.

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Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.