COVID-19 watch

Tracking Hardship - July 31, 2020

Eyes Upon the Senate Edition. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) let the clock run out on the $600/week Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (PUC) and the federal moratorium on evictions. As you read this, neither are in place. It will take perhaps two weeks for states to reprogram to restore a flat level of PUC; months more to try for a certain percentage of prior earnings, as the Senate “HEALS” Act eventually calls for. Now, McConnell is abandoning the $1T HEALS Act to try to get a bill that provides $200/week in extra pandemic aid, and does nothing else – no help for those facing eviction, no state/local aid, no SNAP increase, no Medicaid funds, no cash stimulus payments, no vaccine research, treatment, or testing funds, no child care, no paid leave… At the same time, the Economic Policy Institute tells us that for the 19^th week in a row, jobless claims were higher than twice the worst week of the Great Recession. In the week ending July 25, there were 2 million claims, counting regular and self-employed/gig workers. The Senate must reject a cynical vote for grossly inadequate unemployment benefits while ignoring all the other urgent needs created by the pandemic. Instead, they should vote for the House’s $3T+ HEROES Act, or something similar. Tweet that.

-$600 for 25 million

25 million jobless people have lost their $600/week unemployment aid boost because the Senate Republican leadership failed even to put a bill forward before it expired. Tweet at the Senate.

-$90 billion

How much the Senate Republican UI plan to slash the $600/wk enhanced UI to $200 will cost the jobless and the economy by Sept. 30 (a drop of $10 billion per week). Tweet this.

None; 70 percent

No evidence found that people with higher UI benefits than their previous earnings were less likely to return to work. In fact, 70% of those returning to work in May and June were paid more in UI than their previous wage. Tweet this.

14.8 million

The number of households that couldn’t pay their rent in the past month. (More than 1 in 5 – but closer to 30% for Latinx (27%), Black households (30%), households with children (28%). Tweet this.

29 million

29 million people in 13 million households are at risk of eviction by year’s end if Congress does nothing. (The Senate COVID package does not extend the now-expired eviction moratorium or provide rent assistance; the House bill does.) Tweet this.

For the full report, click here.

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