New Senate Republican COVID-19 Plan Could Cause Jobless Benefit Delays, Homelessness
Senate Republicans' proposal to slash unemployment benefit from $600 to $200 would most greatly affect low-income workers, who lost their jobs during the coronavirus pandemic.
Under the GOP bill unveiled on Monday, unemployed Americans will see a big cut in new jobless benefit with no incentive bonus to go back to work.
In the GOP plan, starting in October, the unemployed could receive benefit that would replace 70 percent of their lost wages through the end of the year if combined with their state benefit, the CNN reported.
That could be $500 at most. But for low-wage workers, that could be far less than that. Other than the lower amount, the jobless will also face all sorts of possible woes with the new plan such as benefit payment delays, homelessness and recession.
States Warn About Delays
The new proposal could result in weeks or even months of delayed payments for some states, said a report from Associated Press.
Older computer systems that needed weeks to set up for the first federal unemployment enhancement will need to go through a new round of programming twice under the GOP plan.
Democratic Florida Rep. Anna Eskamani said the state has not even given the original jobless benefit to all, who are entitled to it. Eskamani noted that the current process took months to put into place and is "still not perfect." For her, changing it is a "scary thought."
States might need up to 20 weeks to switch to the new plan, which is long five months of trying to carry it out. The complex change may crush state offices that are already burdened, reported Bloomberg.
States can apply for two more months if they need more time for computer programming, making the short estimate of their needed time fall weeks further.
Michele Evermore, a senior research and policy analyst for the National Employment Law Project, said the proposal was "nightmarish." She said many things are coming at states at once.
State unemployment offices that hand out the payments are still struggling with the previous $600 weekly payment scheme that was approved months ago.
Over $100 billion in unemployment benefits will need to reach recipients after states took months to make the changes to their computer systems, Bloomberg said. Florida didn't even begin the process on claims for self-employed workers until the last week of June.
In GOP's defense, Senate Finance Chair Chuck Grassley said his party's plan to reduce the pandemic jobless benefits and tying them to the workers' wages is more "responsible" than an extension of the current process.
"When you pay people more not to work than they would get working, what do you expect? People will not work," he said.
Heavy Costs of Homelessness and Recession
A Forbes article said the labor surplus caused by the pandemic can turn into a recession, and there is a chance of it lasting for years. It can also have a long recovery period.
The article also noted that people will not be able to pay for mortgages or rent, causing mass evictions and chance of many people to be homeless as safeguards for renters has come to an end.
Homeless shelters such as the convention center at Columbus, Ohio and campsites in Denver could meet those evicted from their homes, the Politico reported.
Millions are under the threat of going out and it's not because they would rather be jobless than go to work.
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