Extra Unemployment Benefits Update: Could You Still Get $400 or $600?

With the election looming and President Donald Trump dealing with his own COVID-19 infection, there are a lot of distractions in Washington D.C. That’s left many people are wondering whether we will ever see another round of $600 extra unemployment checks.

The answer: Democrats and Republicans are still pretty far apart when it comes to the overall pricetag of a second stimulus relief plan. Even with Trump urging them to get it down (which is just rhetorical because he can pressure but not force that), they’re not that close in overall amount. The problem with extended unemployment benefits is that they are folded into the larger proposals. When it comes to amount, the $600 was the original amount given to people when the pandemic hit. That expired. Democrats recently proposed giving people $600 a week again, but that notion must get through the Republicans in the Senate.

Will it? It’s more likely that extended unemployment benefits would pass at a smaller amount. We’re basing that on two thing: Past Republican rhetoric indicating some believe $600 gave people an incentive not to work. And: The fact that, when Donald Trump authorized a six-week extension of the extra benefits in August, the amount approved was $300. Some states kicked in an extra $100, to bring the tally to $400. But most people got $300. The benefits are in addition to state benefits.

That all being said, the House Speaker’s rhetoric over the weekend gave a glimmer of hope that a plan could still get done. A second round of COVID-19 stimulus checks is also on the table.

Here’s what you need to know:

Pelosi Said Both Sides ‘Are Making Progress’

GettyU.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

How long would the Democrats’ plan for extra benefits extend? MSN reports that the benefits would run through January. The overall pricetag for the Democratic plan is $2.2 trillion.

This is what the House Committee on Appropriations says about the new plan, “Restores unemployment benefits, ensuring weekly $600 federal unemployment payments through next January and preventing unemployed workers from exhausting their eligibility, providing a vital safety net for the record number of Americans who are unemployed, including those connected to the gig-economy.”

The House’s speaker’s comments on stimulus relief sounded fairly optimistic on October 4 when she hit the Sunday talk shows.

Here is what Nancy Pelosi said, according to the CBS News transcript.

Well- well we are making progress. Well we were trying to get that done in the House, but the Republicans object- objected. But what I said to the airline executives in a public statement is, don’t fire people. You know, that relief is on the way. So, and it will be retroactive. So let’s keep them employed because, separate from other industries, when you’re fired- when you’re let go in the airline industry, it takes months or years to be recertified, reclassified all of that, security clearances and the rest. Not like if somebody has another kind of a job, they leave, they come back. So that’s- that makes a difference. But also–

Margaret Brennan, the host, asked, “Could that come this week?” Pelosi responded:

That just depends on if they understand what we have to do to crush the virus. You can’t just say we need- we need to do something, but we’re going to let the virus run free. Now, it’s even run free in the White House. Think of how it is in a poor neighborhood where the president is insisting that children actually go back to school in order to get the funding that he is recommending. These poor kids are largely minority children. People exposed to the virus are largely minority. Everybody’s affected. But the death toll in the lack of- of testing and tracing in the minority community has had a very negative impact. So we have to be serious about this. One of the, let me just back up for a second and say this. For a long time, the Republicans in Congress and this president have been antiscience. They don’t trust science and they don’t believe in governance. So if science says you should be test- testing,–

The new Democratic plan that would give people $600 a week in extra unemployment benefits did pass the U.S. House on October 1 in a vote. However, it needs Republican support, so there’s probably going to be some compromise needed if it’s ever going to get done.

President Trump’s Tweeted That Lawmakers Should Get Relief Done

Trump TwitterPresident Trump

Trump took time to tweet on the matter despite his COVID-19 fight. On October 3, Trump wrote. “OUR GREAT USA WANTS & NEEDS STIMULUS. WORK TOGETHER AND GET IT DONE. Thank you!” The president can’t get stimulus checks done on his own because the Constitution gave funding authorities to Congress.

According to CNBC, September’s job report was weak, driving need for another stimulus package. But neither side can agree on the overall pricetag for a second stimulus relief plan, even as they conceptually agree to some narrower provisions in it (like stimulus checks.)

Washington Post reporter Jeff Stein tweeted that there seems to be some hope, “Oh boy twitter. (Treasury Secretary Steven) Mnuchin just now on talks with Pelosi: ‘We have reached an agreement that if there is a deal there will be direct payments’ — meaning the $1,200 stimulus checks. Still need the deal tho!”

Forbes reported that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Mnuchin were resuming talks on October 1. “We’ll have to see. If we have an agreement, we’re going to pass that agreement, then we’re done until after the election,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said then, according to Forbes.

Republicans want a plan closer to $1.5 trillion, according to CNBC.

The White House has proposed $1.5 trillion as a counter proposal.

“If it starts with a 2, it’s going to be a real problem,” White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows told Reuters on September 30.

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