TENS of millions of Americans will lose their unemployment benefits next month when CARES Act provisions expire – unless lawmakers can agree on another coronavirus relief package.
A new analysis by the Century Foundation revealed on Thursday that 12 million workers on the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) and Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) won’t get any aid once funding expires on December 26.
Another four million-plus workers will have already run out of their allotted PEUC benefits by then, according to the report.
Only 2.9million workers who are running out of PEUC funds will be able to receive extended benefits in 2021.
But states will have to cover half of the costs at a time where funds are rapidly drying up as localities continue to fight the spread of coronavirus.
About 13.5million workers collecting unemployment will be left with nothing after year’s end, according to the Century Foundation report.
That’s more than half of the roughly 20million people who are currently on unemployment, according to CNBC.
But Americans are hopeful for a second round of stimulus checks after a “breakthrough” in talks between Democrats and Republican lawmakers.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said on Thursday that GOP members are “eager” for a deal, saying that he wants a stimulus bill signed into law “as soon as possible.”
He said he hopes for the bill to pass and expects another bill to be pushed through once President-elect Joe Biden takes office in 2021.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been vocal about her desire to revisit stimulus talks, but Republicans have slammed her as the “roadblock” causing a delay in another Covid relief bill.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy slammed Pelosi as “one big wall” during a press conference on Thursday.
“Things are still at the same place. There’s one roadblock,” McCarthy told his audience.
“There’s one big wall that’s stopped this the entire time and it’s Speaker Pelosi.”
McCarthy blasted Pelosi just a day after the US death toll reached a grim milestone of 250,000.
He added: “I would think after the politics she played and the election being over, that she’d now put the American public first.
“She still seems to be in the same position.”