Senate Republicans Propose Drop-in-Bucket Pandemic Aid as Trump Recession Claims Another 779,000 Jobs

WASHINGTON, D.C. – 779,000 more workers filed for unemployment last week, joining the over 17.8 million Americans looking for work in the Trump recession. And despite recent analyses from the Economic Policy Institute, the Brookings Institute and others that the economy will continue to drag without another major pandemic relief package, Senate Republicans continue to insist on doing the bare minimum for workers, states, and small businesses being squeezed across the country. They’re offering President Biden an inadequate “compromise” proposal only one-third the size of the Biden American Rescue Plan, despite overwhelming two-thirds public support for the core elements of the Biden plan, including 78 percent backing for boosted $1,400 stimulus checks.  

“We’re in a recession so deep that only one-fourth of small businesses have safety net funds and millions of families are still dealing with hunger, sacrifice, and crippling debt,” said Jeremy Funk, spokesman for Accountable.US. “Yet even the allegedly ‘serious’ Republicans in the Senate are acting like the economy is out of the woods, pushing President Biden to shortchange hurting families by chopping his bold pandemic aid plan by two-thirds. That’s not a compromise, that’s a joke — and not a very funny one considering the mess the McConnell-led Senate left for the new administration.  

“Republicans in Congress pretending to care again about government spending are welcome to join those ready to repeal the $250 billion worth of tax breaks for millionaires they slipped in the last stimulus, and instead get it to those who actually need it,” added Funk. 

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