What unemployment benefits are in the bipartisan framework for coronavirus relief? | American Enterprise Institute aei.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from aei.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
After 18 years of working in food service, Shelley Bowers lost her job as a bartender at the Alibi Tiki Lounge when Oregon’s pandemic lockdown started in March.
Bowers was okay for the first few months. Between the $1,200 federal stimulus check, her unemployment benefits, and an additional weekly $600 from the CARES Act Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation program, she could cover groceries and rent on her two-bedroom apartment.
But the $600 stopped coming in July. Since then, she’s been scraping by with $397 a week in extended unemployment benefits, less than a quarter of her pre-pandemic income. Now, Bowers and around 12 million other Americans are set to lose these extended unemployment benefits they’re living on by the end of December. In Oregon, about 70,000 people may lose their benefits. Congress hasn’t approved any new help for unemployed Americans.
Brendan Smialowski-Pool/Getty Images
A slew of economic-relief programs created as part of the CARES Act are set to expire at the end of the year.
If programs like the federal Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) and Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) go away it would leave millions of unemployed Americans in the lurch.
Congress needs to renew these programs to protect Americans who need them the most.
Max Burns is a veteran Democratic strategist. This is an opinion column. The thoughts expressed are those of the author.
Twelve million of out-of-work Americans are staring down disaster.
These unemployed workers will face financial catastrophe on December 26 when two critical programs created to soften the blow of the COVID
CARES Act benefits set to end Dec 31 albanyherald.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from albanyherald.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Employment During COVID-19 By The Numbers
By Joni Sweet, Stacker News
On 12/12/20 at 10:42 AM EST
When the COVID-19 outbreak hit the U.S. in force, many states implemented their own mandatory closures of nonessential businesses and social distancing orders to reduce the spread of the coronavirus. But while many countries around the world unveiled nationwide measures that reduced infection rates enough to safely reopen, the varied responses among U.S. states meant many reopened without getting the virus firmly under control with proper social-distancing measures or enough tests to track COVID-19 s spread. The result? Major losses both in terms of the economy as well as human life.