As with millions of other Americans who lost their jobs due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in addition to weekly unemployment benefits I also receive an additional $600 a week (before taxes) under the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) program.
FPUC was part of the CARES Act which was enacted into law on March 27th which provided for additional relief for the unemployed through July 31st. With unemployment showing no signs of slowing down, the House of Representatives passed the HEROES Act last week which would have extended FPUC by six months through January 31, 2021.
However, President Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell oppose this provision.
In other words, Trump and McConnell have told America's unemployed to FPUC off.
Yesterday, McConnell told House Republicans during a conference call that the GOP was "going to have to clean up the Democrats’ crazy policy that is paying people more to remain unemployed than they would earn if they went back to work." Trump evidently echoed McConnell's sentiments during a private lunch yesterday with Senate Republicans.
It is true that many workers are making more money now than when they were gainfully employed. I am among them. Indeed, I earn nearly double the money I did when I was employed. I earn enough money to pay for the sublet I'm now occupying to socially distance from my Dad. There's no way I could have done so on my salary. This is not a question of unemployment benefits being too generous but rather than employers simply don't pay enough. But this is a much larger question with no easy answer.
With regard to the matter at hand, it would be one thing to end FPUC if the economy could bounce back safely and quickly, but there is no realistic projection that this state of affairs will end anytime soon. Jobs are not exactly in abundance and hiring an army of contact tracers (many of them in Kentucky which McConnell represents) would scarcely put a dent into an economy descending into depression.
For my part, I have applied for over 60 jobs in nearly 7 weeks of unemployment and have studied to be a contact tracer. I'm not sure what else Trump and McConnell would ask of me and millions of others in far worse positions than myself. Well, I doubt we will get an answer because McConnell doesn't give a fuck about you unless you're a millionaire while Trump just doesn't give a fuck.
If I had to hazard guess I believe that McConnell will eventually agree to extend FPUC by 90 days through October 31st and Trump will go along. That would be three days before the election and I'm sure Trump and McConnell would tell Americans that if you re-elect them they'll be happy to extend it another 90 days - January 31, 2021. So we could end up with the same extension after all but not until Trump and McConnell have finished stringing us along.
Two men have never so richly deserved to lose an election.
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