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Thursday, March 26th, 2020

GOP Senate Trio Threatens to Delay Stimulus Bill Because Unemployment Benefits Amid Pandemic Are Too Generous

Author:     Jake Johnson
Source:     Common Dreams
Publication Date:     Wednesday, March 25, 2020
 Link: GOP Senate Trio Threatens to Delay Stimulus Bill Because Unemployment Benefits Amid Pandemic Are Too Generous
Stephan:   Pay the peasants enough to actually help them? Not on my watch say Republican senators Lindsey Graham, Tim Scott, and Ben Sasse. As I have said before I do not think it is possible to be a Republican and an ethical moral person. I say that not as a partisan statement but as an expression of compassion, and in support of wellbeing. I just do not see how these men take these positions and live with themselves. They do obviously, but it takes a very different worldview than anything to which I can relate.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) speaks while flanked by Senators Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) during a press conference at the US Capitol March 25, 2020 in Washington, D.C.
Credit: Alex Edelman/AFP/Getty

Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham, Tim Scott, and Ben Sasse on Wednesday threatened to delay the Senate’s multi-trillion-dollar coronavirus stimulus bill because they believe the legislation’s unemployment provisions are too generous.

In a joint statement, the GOP senators claimed there is “a massive drafting error in the current version of the coronavirus relief legislation could have devastating consequences: Unless this bill is fixed, there is a strong incentive for employees to be laid off instead of going to work.”

As Vox‘s Matt Yglesias noted on Twitter, “That’s not how layoffs work. You can quit your job, but then you’re not eligible for [unemployment insurance]. You can’t lay yourself off.”

The trio of Republicans went on to say that they “must sadly oppose the fast-tracking of this bill until this text is addressed, or the Department of Labor issues regulatory guidance that no American would earn more […]

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