Senate Republicans made a giant stink about the $600-per-week boost to unemployment insurance included in the novel coronavirus stimulus. It was just too much money for low-income people, they said. Nurses might decide not to work, said Sen. Lindsey Graham, because they could get so much money being unemployed. Nurses!
So obviously now some of the very same Senate Republicans who voted for stingier benefits are bragging to constituents about those same benefits. That they tried to cap.
“This package that we passed will provide $600 a week on top of the Montana benefit if you’re unemployed,” Montana Sen. Steve Daines said. “That’s very significant. It more than doubles what the state of Montana pays. That’s taking care of those Montanans who’ve lost their jobs.”
Absolutely true! Daines also voted for an amendment that would have prevented people from getting the full $600 if it took them above their regular wages. The $600, by the way, came about because Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia said it would be too much work for state agencies to match each person’s original pay, as Democrats had originally wanted.
”It also expands unemployment insurance eligibility, and provides an extra $600 a week in federal unemployment benefits. When it comes to covering bills and navigating this uncertainly, that money is a lifeline,” Texas Sen. John Cornyn wrote.
Also absolutely true! Cornyn also voted for the amendment cutting off the $600 to be sure the poors didn’t do too well.
Arizona Sen. Martha McSally and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott put out press releases touting the unemployment insurance expansion. Because all these Republican senators are terrible, terrible people.
