House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and several of his GOP colleagues wrote an open letter to the nation’s governors, urging them to “put America back to work” by ending the $300 weekly pandemic unemployment boost that they blame for discouraging people from taking jobs and hurting businesses and the economy.
In the letter—co-signed by McCarthy and Reps. Steve Scalise (R-La.), Kevin Brady (R-Texas), and Jackie Walorski (R-Ind.)—the Republicans say they’ve heard from “countless Main Street employers who are struggling to hire the workers they need, due in large part to enhanced federal unemployment insurance benefits.”
President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan included provisions for a $300 weekly federal boost to unemployment benefits—in addition to state unemployment payouts—which is scheduled to lapse in September.
“Unfortunately, we are now seeing the negative consequences of these misaligned economic incentives,” McCarthy and his colleagues wrote. “An estimated 40 percent of the unemployed now earn more staying at home than working, causing severe labor shortages across the country” and impacting a number of industries.
Business groups have blamed the unemployment boost for sidelining workers and making it hard for businesses to hire badly needed employees.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce called for an early end to the $300 jobless supplement, issuing a statement to that effect after a lackluster jobs report last week showed a sharp slowdown in hiring, even as job openings hit a record high in March.
Following the release of the jobs report, Biden sought to fend off claims that the enhanced unemployment boost was creating a disincentive for people to take jobs and so driving the sharp slowdown in April hiring.
“No, nothing measurable,” Biden said.
At the same time, during a White House briefing on May 10, Biden said his administration would work with states on renewing requirements that workers can’t turn down a “suitable” job they are offered and continue to collect federal jobless benefits.
To date, at least 18 GOP-led states—Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming—have announced they will end the federal unemployment boost at some point this summer.