Americans want the $600 pandemic unemployment benefit renewed by a huge margin, a new poll from HuffPost/YouGov finds. Continuing the benefits gets 54% support with just 29% of people opposed.
What’s incredibly frustrating in the poll, though, is that 39% of people say congressional Democrats are “at least somewhat responsible” for the expanded unemployment lapsing last Friday, with 41% pointing the finger at congressional Republicans and 29% at least somewhat blaming Donald Trump. That’s despite the fact that the House, which is controlled by Democrats, passed an extension of the $600 months ago, in the HEROES Act. Now, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is pushing hard to continue the $600 while Republicans, both in the Senate and from the White House, push to slash the boosted amount.
Delays on the unemployment renewal are also coming from the fact that, while Republicans are united in wanting to slash it from $600, they’re in disarray on basically everything else, with no consensus among Senate Republicans and the White House typically muddled.
Meanwhile, by the end of August, 5.4 million people will be unable to pay their bills—in addition to those who already can’t—if the benefits aren’t renewed. More than 40% of people receiving unemployment insurance will get less than $800 per month without the additional money from the federal government. Republicans’ refusal to extend the unemployment aid before it ran out to begin with is already hitting people hard with fear of what’s to come.
“Just a few men have to make this decision for how many million people? Ten guys to make a decision over these millions of people’s lives?” Willie Wood, a former banquet server at a New Orleans hotel, told The Washington Post. “This country not taking care of American citizens like they’re supposed to. We didn’t bring this pandemic home. We were at work, and you hit us with a pandemic.”
And Republicans aren’t ready to do the right thing yet, even though it’s also the popular thing. Don’t expect them to do the right thing until the public gives them the blame they deserve.
This blog originally appeared at Daily Kos on August 5, 2020. Reprinted with permission.
About the Author: Laura Clawson has been a Daily Kos contributing editor since December 2006. Full-time staff since 2011, currently assistant managing editor.
