As 745,000 More Lose Jobs, Senate Republicans Plot “Infinite” Delay on Popular Biden Pandemic Relief Bill

WASHINGTON, D.C. – 745,000 more workers filed for unemployment last week, joining the more than 18 million Americans looking for work in the Trump recession. But while the need for serious pandemic aid for struggling families, small businesses, and states is undeniable and urgent, Leader McConnell is busy whipping unanimous opposition from Senate Republicans to President Biden’s enormously popular aid plan while Senator Rand Paul is scheming for “infinity” poison-pill amendments to delay the bill indefinitely.  

“In the face of ongoing economic struggles due to the pandemic, all Senate Republicans seem to want to do is listen to themselves talk,” said Jeremy Funk, spokesman for Accountable.US. “When even three-fifths of self-identified Republicans back the Biden pandemic relief plan, Mitch McConnell should take the hint that further delay hurts millions of families whether they are in red or blue states. If the polls are any judge, the only political points they’re scoring with obstruction are against themselves. The longer McConnell and company hold back help, the longer the Trump recession will be – and the public won’t soon forget who sat on their $1,400 checks in the middle of it.”   

Blocking Real Relief = Economic Sabotage: As an unemployment benefit cliff looms, analyses from the Economic Policy Institute, the Brookings Institute and others found the economy will continue to drag without another major pandemic relief package. Moody’s Analytics chief economist and former top McCain economic adviser Mark Zandi estimates the Biden rescue plan, which includes $1,400 stimulus checks, would restore pandemic job losses by the fall of next year.    

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