Title: $600 Unemployment Checks — Congress Has No Choice But To Extend Benefits
Headings: $600 Unemployment Checks — Congress Has No Choice But To Extend Benefits
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May 27, 2021,03:40pm EDT
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Final Thoughts

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Earlier this week the Senate finally began taking up deliberations on the HEROES Act, or some alternative version of it, passed by the Democratically controlled House of Representatives in May.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
The bill is essentially an extension of the CARES Act that became law in March. The CARES Act provided, among other benefits, one-time $1,200 stimulus payments to taxpayers and a $600 per week federal unemployment subsidy. Absent action by the Senate, the $600 per week federal unemployment subsidy is scheduled to disappear on July 31. Up to this point at least, the arguments for and against an extension of that benefit – as well as a potential second round of one-off stimulus payments – have largely been political. But if the federal unemployment benefit isn’t extended, the fallout will suddenly become an economic event, and possibly even one for the record books. The Effect of Expiration of the $600 Federal Unemployment Benefit on the Unemployed
There’s little doubt the $600 federal unemployment subsidy has kept millions of households financially intact while reducing the negative impact of the corona virus recession on the entire economy. But with 32 million Americans still unemployed and depending on that weekly benefit, the potential that the economy could crash if the benefit isn’t extended isn’t beyond the realm of possibility. State unemployment benefits by themselves are low, certainly not at a level sufficient to support a typical household. Though unemployment benefits vary from one state to another, ranging from a low of $235 per week in Mississippi to a high of $1,220 in Massachusetts, the national average sits at about $333 per week. In most cases, that will replace no more than 50% to 55% of an unemployed worker’s previous income.