Republicans like Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin believe that the $600 weekly benefits that are being given to unemployed Americans, are causing people to stay at home and not look for work.
The benefits were put in place as an attempt to curb the affects of coronavirus-related unemployment across the country. These benefits were given in addition to state distributed unemployment payments.
Mnuchin, White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell met to discuss the new deal.
READ MORE: Florida GOP admits unemployment system was ‘designed to fail’
“We want to make sure that there’s a technical correction, so that people don’t get paid more money to stay home than to work,” Mnuchin said.
“The original unemployment benefits actually paid people to stay home and actually a lot of people got more money staying at home than they would going back to work,” Meadows said, in an interview on ABC’s This Week.
Mnuchin said that he spoke with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Friday about negotiating a partial extension of employment benefits that would last until the end of the year.
The Trump administration and many Republicans want an extension of benefits that would replace 70% of wages that a person would have made if they were still employed.
“So the president has been very clear, our Republican senators have been very clear, we’re not going to extend that provision,” White House Chief of Staff said.
Pelosi, alongside other Democratic leaders, do not want a short term extension nor do they want a reduction.
“The reason we had $600 was its simplicity,” Pelosi said from the Capitol, The Morning Call reported.
The $600 unemployment benefits will expire on July 31, and those without jobs will have no additional assistance during the pandemic.
“We don’t want a short-term extension either, we want something till the end of the year,” Mnuchin said.
READ MORE: Record 6.6 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits
Meadows and Mnuchin revisited Capitol Hill to apply “final touches” on a $1 trillion bill, which is expected to be announced on Monday, Politico reported.
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