- Senate Democrats signed an agreement on unemployment benefits on Friday night.
- The new plan offers weekly unemployment benefits from $ 300 through Sept. 6, cutting monthly.
- It will also provide tax forgiveness for people earning up to $ 150,000.
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Senate Democrats reached an agreement on unemployment benefits on Friday night, which removed a major obstacle to the $ 1.1 billion stimulus plan. It could possibly take the final vote on the legal aid legislation on Saturday.
Two Democratic assistants told Insider that by September 6, the new plan would provide $ 300 in federal unemployment benefits. It would also waive tax payments for the first $ 10,200 on unemployment benefits for people earning up to $ 150,000.
Both talked about the condition of anonymity to share internal discussions.
Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia does not support a new Democratic plan that would provide unemployment benefits until the end of September and waive taxes for the first $ 10,200 unemployment benefits for each person. His opposition derailed the Senate debate on the aid plan for nearly nine hours.
“The president has made it clear that by the end of May we will have enough vaccines for every American and I am confident that the economic recovery will follow,” Manchin said in a statement. “We have reached a compromise that will allow the economy to bounce back quickly, but also protect those who receive unemployment benefits from next year’s unexpected tax bill.”
Some experts have expressed concern about the federal government having to pull out unemployment benefits as the economy slowly recovers lost jobs as the pandemic subsides.
“We need unemployment assistance until the labor markets recover,” Employment policy director Elizabeth Pancotti told Insider. ‘I do not think there is a person who thinks that the labor market will recover with Labor Day. People pick dates out of a hat until they have enough votes for it. ‘
Senate Democrats appear to be one step closer to fulfilling the first major part of President Joe Biden’s legislative agenda. His relief bill includes $ 1400 stimulus checks for most taxpayers; $ 300 federal unemployment benefits through August; $ 200 billion in funding for schools; and funding for vaccines and virus testing.
In the equally divided Senate, Democrats control the chamber because of the power of Vice President Kamala Harris. But the ideological cracks that emerged on Friday could predict other obstacles if they try to set other parts of their agenda, including infrastructure and voting rights.
“I think this is an indication of how we are going to see the Senate for the next two years,” Jim Manley, a former Democratic senior assistant, recently told Insider. ‘The irony of all this is that this bill is going to be the easy one and everything that’s going to be going to be a hell of a lot harder.