The $600 a week in extra jobless aid lawmakers of both parties approved back in March as part of the $2.2 trillion Cares Act officially expires at the end of the month, leaving some 30 million Americans now relying on it in the lurch. With Republicans divided among themselves on key issues in the next economic rescue package, and a widening gulf between them and Democrats, quick passage looks increasingly remote.
“We’re going to have a lot more households that are dangerously close to the lowest levels available to sustain their living,” Richard Curtin, director of the University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers, tells me.
How far to go in doing so remains an open question as Republicans seek to contain the overall cost of the relief package. But many in the party argue the payment discourages Americans’ return to work and is slowing the recovery, since it offers many workers more than they would otherwise earn on the job.