From $600 a week to $200: How Republicans want to cut coronavirus unemployment benefits
Jobless payments to Washington workers could range from at least $401 to $1,044 a week under plans that U. S. Senate Republicans are seriously considering.
That would be a $400 a week cut in what most have been receiving since late March, since the $600 a week additional payment people have had since late March is now gone.
Republicans are now eyeing plans that would have unemployed workers get $200 a week above their usual benefit and hope to debate their plans in the Senate this week.
One proposal, offered by Senate GOP leaders, would keep the $200 benefit for up to 60 days and then replace it with 70% of lost wages up to a certain point. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimated the average payment at 70% in Washington would be about $367 a week.
Another GOP proposal gives states a choice of offering the additional $200 or two-thirds of wage replacement, up to a maximum of $500 per week.
Democrats are unenthusiastic about those ideas. Most want to retain the $600 extra payment workers have been receiving. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York called the Republican effort to push the GOP plans nothing more than “a stunt.”
While unemployment insurance normally is not a strict wage replacement program, lawmakers earlier this year were willing to be more generous because they didn’t want people endangering themselves during the coronavirus outbreak as they sought work.
“You certainly don’t want unemployed workers out pounding the pavement,” said Rep. Derek Kilmer, D-Tacoma. It’s more important, he said, for them to be “staying home and staying healthy.”
The additional payments have sparked a sharp partisan divide. Many Republicans said that too often, people were getting more money to stay home than they would receive working. Democrats argued that in these extraordinary economic times, the $600 should be extended through January.
The impasse has meant, at least for now, that weekly payments for Washington claimants will return to the pre-pandemic $201 to $844 for regular state unemployment insurance as the additional $600 payments end.
“Unless Congress acts soon to extend or alter it, the loss of this additional benefit will create hardship for many individuals and families,” warned ESD Commissioner Suzi LeVine in a statement.
Even if some benefit replacement plan is approved in a Washington process that is likely to take at least another week — and the unemployment provision is just one part of the Senate Republicans’ broad $1 trillion economic relief package — the Washington Employment Security Department has to implement the change.
The ESD, which manages the Washington unemployment system, could not say how quickly it could implement new programs. The agency has been deluged by an unprecedented volume of claims, leading to persistent complaints about difficulty reaching anyone at the agency for help.
Since the coronavirus pandemic sent the economy reeling in March, ESD has paid out over $8.7 billion in benefits. During the week ending July 25, there were 677,355 claims.
Initial regular claims remain at unprecedented levels and are 524% above last year’s new weekly claims applications.
There’s likely to be a long way to go before anyone sees any benefit from a Republican plan.
Democratic leaders are balking at the amount, saying it’s too small. The Economic Policy Institute, a progressive research group, estimates losing $400 a week in benefits will mean 81,483 fewer jobs created in Washington through mid-2021.
Washington’s unemployment rates over the last three months were 16.3% in April, 15.1% in May and 9.8% in June.
Democrats have been quick to condemn the GOP initiative.
“State unemployment offices are operating with ancient technology and struggling to get benefits out the door as is. Any effort to make the system more complex is sabotage. It will result in workers losing their benefits and more workers falling through the cracks,” said Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee.
Republicans have a different take.
“We want to be able to have it ... be relative to how much they could make in the private sector, which is the way the state unemployment systems work,” said Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, who has been active in helping devise an alternative to the $600 payment.
This story was originally published August 3, 2020 at 5:00 AM with the headline "From $$600 a week to $$200: How Republicans want to cut coronavirus unemployment benefits."
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