Congress must act now, before Washington state’s unemployed hit bottom | Editorial

We wonder if the federal $600-per-week boost in unemployment benefits would have stopped if members of Congress needed that money to feed their own families.

Our guess is probably not.

As it is, the lifeboat that had kept struggling families afloat was taken away at the end of last month, and they’ve been forced to tread water ever since.

People who lost their jobs through no fault of their own are going to drown in debt and lose their cars, their homes and their savings if they don’t get help soon.

And so, it’s with a sense of relief that Washington state officials announced Thursday they will apply for the $300-per-week unemployment benefit offered by President Donald Trump.

This stop-gap measure is better than nothing, but it will last only a few weeks. Once the money runs out our jobless citizens will be hurting again, just like they are now.

Members of Congress need to do their job and rescue these anxious taxpayers from their government-imposed distress.

The pandemic has caused businesses to shut down and people deemed by the government to be “non-essential workers” have had no choice but to file for unemployment benefits.

State relief is not enough to live on, and so when Congress initially approved the additional $600-per-week benefit it allowed people to manage.

Senate Republicans, however, apparently were appalled by stories that the federal aid program might have been too generous in some cases.

They heard anecdotal stories of people who were making more by filing unemployment claims than when they worked a job.

They suggested trimming the $600-per-week benefit down, or basing the aid on a percentage of individual incomes. The latter suggestion would be a nightmare in Washington state because it would take months for the Employment Security Department to reconfigure its processing system.

Meanwhile House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., reportedly is ignoring pleas from members of her own caucus who want to continue the federal unemployment benefits through a smaller COVID-19 relief package.

But Pelosi has refused the request because she is holding out for a deal that includes money for state and local pandemic aid, as well as vote-by-mail programs.

Political chess games are fine when people are not in crisis. But now is not the time to dither about strategies.

People are looking to the end of the month and wondering how they will pay their bills. There is no more time for partisan bickering.

Pelosi needs to listen to those House members who suggest extending unemployment benefits now, and fighting for the rest of their goals later.

And Senate Republicans need to have a heart. Is it really worth seeing some families lose everything they have because there may be some people somewhere living better on unemployment than they did before the pandemic?

We think not.

Most U.S. senators and representatives make $174,000 a year, whether or not they fail their constituents. They should put themselves in the shoes of those who want to work but can’t.

While we are glad to see Washington state officials apply for Trump’s $300-per-week unemployment benefit, it is not enough.

That amount allows people to come up for air for only a short time before they will start sinking again. Congress needs to quit quibbling and come to the rescue now.

This story was originally published August 21, 2020 at 12:36 PM.