U.S. Republicans unveil coronavirus plan, slash job benefit by $400 a week

[webfact]

U.S. Republicans unveil coronavirus plan, slash job benefit by $400 a week

By Susan Cornwell and David Lawder

 

FILE PHOTO: The U.S. Capitol is seen behind a fence in Washington, U.S. July 23, 2020. REUTERS/Erin Scott

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senate Republicans on Monday proposed a $1 trillion coronavirus aid package hammered out with the White House, paving the way for talks with Democrats on how to help Americans as expanded unemployment benefits for millions of workers expire this week.

 

Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell called the proposal a "tailored and targeted" plan focused on getting children back to school and employees back to work and protecting corporations from lawsuits, while slashing the expiring supplemental unemployment benefits of $600 a week by two-thirds.

 

The plan sparked immediate opposition from both Democrats and Republicans. Democrats decried it as too limited compared to their $3 trillion proposal that passed the House of Representatives in May, and some Republicans called it too expensive.

 

McConnell said the package would include direct payments to Americans of $1,200 each, as well as incentives for manufacturing personal protective equipment for healthcare workers in the United States, rather than China.

 

It also includes $190 billion for loans to help small businesses, and $100 billion for loans to businesses that operate seasonally or in low-income areas.

 

Republicans want to reduce the expanded unemployment benefit from the current $600 per week, which expires on Friday, to $200, paid in addition to state unemployment benefits, and to extend the program for two months. After that, the benefit would switch to 70% of a worker's previous wages, to a maximum of $500 a week including state unemployment benefits.

 

The supplemental benefit has been a financial lifeline for laid-off workers and a key support for consumer spending. The extra unemployment funds - exceeding the former wages of some workers - have been a sticking point for many Republicans, who say they encourage Americans to stay home rather than go back to work.

 

Democrats, in turn, have decried the Republican delay in writing more legislation as U.S. coronavirus cases passed the 4 million mark, a milestone for a pandemic that has killed roughly 150,000 people in the United States and thrown tens of millions out of work.

 

The Democratic-led House in May passed its $3 trillion coronavirus relief bill known as the "HEROES Act," but the Republican-led Senate refused to consider it.

 

LIABILITY PROTECTIONS AND DEFENSE SPENDING

McConnell on Monday called the House bill a "socialist manifesto" and urged Democrats to work with Republicans on their plan, called the "HEALS Act."

 

"We have one foot in the pandemic and one foot in the recovery," McConnell said. "The American people need more help. They need it to be comprehensive, and they need it to be carefully tailored to this crossroads."

 

The proposal will include "strong legal liability protection" for corporations, a top priority of Republicans.

 

It includes nearly $30 billion for the military and defense industry, in addition to nearly $760 billion already enacted for defense this year - including more than $10 billion in previous coronavirus relief bills.

 

The immediate opposition from some of McConnell's fellow Republicans, as well as from Democrats, signaled a tough round of negotiations ahead.

 

"The answer to these challenges will not simply be shoveling cash out of Washington. The answer to these challenges will be getting people back to work," Republican Senator Ted Cruz told reporters.

 

Some Republicans had complained about the high price tag; the federal government has already spent $3.7 trillion to cushion the economic blow from pandemic-forced shutdowns.

 

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said the Republican plan did too little, too slowly, to help Americans facing eviction because the pandemic has made it impossible for them to go to work.

 

"The Republican plan is weak tea, when our problems need a much stronger brew," Schumer said.

 

He said many states had warned they would have a hard time implementing unemployment changes. Many Americans waited weeks for previous coronavirus benefits, as outmoded state computer systems adjusted.

 

Democrats had warned they would oppose a Republican proposal to protect businesses and schools from liability lawsuits as they reopen with the coronavirus pandemic still raging.

 

The Republican proposal also includes measures not directly related to the COVID-19 outbreak, including $1.8 billion for construction of a new FBI headquarters in Washington, something championed by President Donald Trump, who owns a hotel across the street from the current building.

 

(Reporting by Susan Cornwell and David Lawder; writing by Patricia Zengerle and Richard Cowan; Editing by Scott Malone and Leslie Adler)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-07-28

 

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[Tug]

Definitely the horns of a dilemma dammed if you dammed if you don’t bottom line we must get the virus under control first and employers must provide safe working conditions just forcing folks back into unsafe conditions isent going to fly imo

[OneMoreFarang]

31 minutes ago, Tug said:

we must get the virus under control first

Sounds like a great idea. Who will explain that to Trump?

[OneMoreFarang]

It's sad to see how the so called richest and most advanced nation on earth is handling Covid-19.

Maybe they should start by having someone competent in charge who cares, listens to experts and acts responsible...

[Tounge Thaied]

Here's an idea... let everyone go back to work, open up the schools and get on with it. If people want to wear a mask fine, if they don't want to wear a mask fine, they want to be a lab rat and take a vaccine that has not been fully tested fine, if they don't want to take the vaccine fine. We now know that MILLIONS are not going to die as was predicted and was the impetus for lock downs. There is no emergency... Did you know that 700,000 have died every year from the other airborne virus... called vector-borne disease. 500 MILLION "cases" every year and you guessed it, we never locked down, hid in doors for that one. 

Edited July 28, 2020 by Tounge Thaied

[pegman]

Cut benefits by 2/3rds. Sounds like a winner in an election year. Right up there with the elimination of Obamacare in the middle of a pandemic.

[Odysseus123]

34 minutes ago, pegman said:

Cut benefits by 2/3rds. Sounds like a winner in an election year. Right up there with the elimination of Obamacare in the middle of a pandemic.

The amazing insanity of it all....

[Bender Rodriguez]

8 hours ago, webfact said:

while slashing the expiring supplemental unemployment benefits of $600 a week by two-thirds.

600$ a week unemployment money ?  2400$ a month ???? who would want to work when you get that much ?

[GSFISM]

1 hour ago, Bender Rodriguez said:

600$ a week unemployment money ?  2400$ a month ???? who would want to work when you get that much ?

Try $600 + what one draws on unemployment. 

[riclag]

1 hour ago, Bender Rodriguez said:

600$ a week unemployment money ?  2400$ a month ???? who would want to work when you get that much ?

100% ! The car dealership ,my kid works for in California told my son ,don't come back until all your assistance from the state and feds are exhausted!

[scammed]

9 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

It's sad to see how the so called richest and most advanced nation on earth is handling Covid-19.

Maybe they should start by having someone competent in charge who cares, listens to experts and acts responsible...

and who is expert on knee jerk reaction then ?

[spidermike007]

The best Republican covid response would be to get rid of Trump. It is going to happen anyway, come November. Why not be on the right side of history, and abandon him now? 

[Skeptic7]

9 hours ago, pegman said:

Cut benefits by 2/3rds. Sounds like a winner in an election year. Right up there with the elimination of Obamacare in the middle of a pandemic.

 

9 hours ago, Odysseus123 said:

The amazing insanity of it all....

 

2 hours ago, Bender Rodriguez said:

600$ a week unemployment money ?  2400$ a month ???? who would want to work when you get that much ?

It's not cutting the benefit...but rather the additional benefit, which is OVER AND ABOVE, the normal unemployment benefit. So on the low end of States, Arkansas gets $219/wk, while on the high end States like Hawaii and Massachusetts are around $450/wk. Regardless of the state, the CARES round of benefits paid an additional $600/wk. So some in the high cost states are now getting over $1000/wk for staying at home. Arkansas residents are getting over $800/wk. Overall, currently around 70% of claimants, in all states, are getting more money now, than when they were actually working.  

 

The new proposal will cut the additional benefit down to $200 OVER AND ABOVE the normal state weekly payment. It's still generous, while the first round was extremely too high and overly generous. 

[connda]

Slash unemployment for the commoners and send the savings to the banks and corporate elites as "free money" (Don't worry about paying it back.  The commoner taxpayers have your back.)

Wash, rinse, repeat until the US Treasury is drained and the US defaults on it's debts.  The wealthy (including the now wealthy politicians in Congress) will walk away from the burned-out wreak of what used to be the United States after it's been thoroughly raped, pillaged, and picked to the bone from the inside before it's set on fire and kicked to the side of the road.
Before you go - austerity for the commoners and funnel the savings to the uber-wealthy.

[wwest5829]

3 hours ago, Bender Rodriguez said:

600$ a week unemployment money ?  2400$ a month ???? who would want to work when you get that much ?

Hmmm, that is my retirement monthly budget. I determined considering the price of things in the US, I was priced out of a working middle class retirement with house, car, etc. living the working middle class retirement comfortably here ... in Thailand (millions of Americans are retired overseas for the same consideration).

[flexomike]

3 hours ago, Bender Rodriguez said:

600$ a week unemployment money ?  2400$ a month ???? who would want to work when you get that much ?

That is $600 dollars a week on top of normal unemployment benefits, so a lot of people were getting way more not working than working, this could not last forever

[hotchilli]

On 7/28/2020 at 7:01 AM, OneMoreFarang said:

It's sad to see how the so called richest and most advanced nation on earth is handling Covid-19.

Maybe they should start by having someone competent in charge who cares, listens to experts and acts responsible...

That goes for the general public too !

[Chomper Higgot]

Don’t get too excited, the Republicans  can’t get this through without a whole lot of negotiating with the Democrats.

 

Perhaps demanding the accounts on where the $hundreds of billions of still secretly distributed corporate and business handouts went would be a nice start.

 

Put it under the heading ‘Transparent Government’.

[Berkshire]

4 hours ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Don’t get too excited, the Republicans  can’t get this through without a whole lot of negotiating with the Democrats.

 

Perhaps demanding the accounts on where the $hundreds of billions of still secretly distributed corporate and business handouts went would be a nice start.

 

Put it under the heading ‘Transparent Government’.

That's my concern with all this massive, crazy spending.  The US GOV is just going deeper and deeper into debt.  Any time the government tries to manage a huge pot of money, waste, fraud, and abuse ALWAYS follows.  This is just one example of the recent stimulus money being stolen in broad daylight.  I'm certain there are many, many more...

 

[A Florida man has been charged with fraud and other criminal offenses after receiving $3.9 million in COVID-19 relief funds and using the money to purchase, among other things, a Lamborghini.]

 

https://www.yahoo.com/news/florida-man-receives-3-9-225315639.html

[RobFord]

On 7/28/2020 at 4:40 PM, spidermike007 said:

The best Republican covid response would be to get rid of Trump. It is going to happen anyway, come November. Why not be on the right side of history, and abandon him now? 

The US has to flush the turd November 3rd and prove their democracy works.

[Cryingdick]

Should have been a payroll tax cut not a $1,200 check. Then hopefully people living abroad and dead people won't get checks. Anybody living in the USA right now knows it is hard enough getting anybody to work. $600 a week additional to unemployment was just insane to do. That's pretty much like having a $50k a year job after taxes.

 

Not bad if you were cut from Bob's Diner where you washed dishes. The $1,200 really should be reserved for people who lost work or had their incomes interrupted. Although I have to admit they shouldn't send me $2,400 I will be cashing it. The welfare thread in home country that goes at least 100+ pages will have another one just like it. 

 

 

 

 

[Tie Dye Samurai]

On 7/27/2020 at 6:58 PM, OneMoreFarang said:

Sounds like a great idea. Who will explain that to Trump?

There is only one man that could explain this to Donald Trump that he would listen to and obey...Vladimir Putin

[Yinn]

On 7/28/2020 at 4:40 PM, spidermike007 said:

The best Republican covid response would be to get rid of Trump. It is going to happen anyway, come November. Why not be on the right side of history, and abandon him now? 

The best covidvresponse is stop argue together, republican democarat, Black white, old statue, lefty hard right etc etc. riot, looting

 

fight covid, not fight together. Is stupid. Selfish.

[shdmn]

15 minutes ago, Yinn said:

The best covidvresponse is stop argue together, republican democarat, Black white, old statue, lefty hard right etc etc. riot, looting

 

fight covid, not fight together. Is stupid. Selfish.

The best response is to not still pretend like both sides are the same.  On side is completely insane the other side is not.

 

You can't work with people who are constantly spewing conspiracy theories at you and just deny facts.  Then they have to nerve to blame the other side of exactly what they are doing.

 

Gaslight

Obstruct

Project

Edited July 29, 2020 by shdmn

[opalred]

not fair/ how are the trump children going to live

[mtls2005]

The Swamp is sliding all sorts of "interesting stuff" into this PoS.

 

 A BILL
To lessen the burdens on interstate commerce by discouraging insubstantial lawsuits relating to COVID–19 while
preserving the ability of individuals and businesses that
have suffered real injury to obtain complete relief. 

 

https://www.cornyn.senate.gov/sites/default/files/SAFETOWORKAct.pdf

 

See section 142 page 38

 

SEC. 142. LIABILITY FOR HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONALS
9 AND HEALTH CARE FACILITIES DURING
10 CORONAVIRUS PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY. 

[spidermike007]

3 hours ago, opalred said:

not fair/ how are the trump children going to live

In utter shame, isolation, obscurity and humiliation. Trying to sell a radioactive name. Exactly want the entire crime clan deserves.