Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Wednesday vowed to end the increased unemployment benefits enacted earlier this spring to help Americans who lost their jobs amid the novel coronavirus pandemic. “It will not be in the next bill,” he promised House Republicans, according to Politico.
McConnell told the House GOP minority in an afternoon phone call that the $600 weekly boost in unemployment benefits won’t continue — a vow he hadn’t previously made.
He also told them the ultimate end-product won’t look anything like House Democrats’ $3 trillion package passed last week, Politico reported, citing a person briefed on the call.
While McConnell conceded more aid may be necessary in the coming weeks, he also said Republicans are “going to have to clean up the Democrats’ crazy policy that is paying people more to remain unemployed than they would earn if they went back to work.”
As noted by Politico, McConnell’s remarks “amount to a hardening of McConnell’s position and a dismissal of House Democrats’ priorities before talks even begin.”
