Weekly unemployment would stay at $300 per week in Biden’s COVID stimulus plan, according to deal

WASHINGTON – Senate Democrats on Friday agreed to scale back the weekly federal unemployment benefit in President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus bill, breaking nearly 9 hours of negotiations on the provision.

The agreement extends the federal unemployment benefit at $300 per week through the end of August, according to a Democratic aide not authorized to speak on the record.

The compromise caps off a Friday in which both Republicans and Democrats squabbled over the benefit to help out-of-work Americans during the COVID-19 crisis.

More: Biden’s relief bill isn’t getting bipartisan support like previous stimulus bills. What do Republicans dislike so much?

Under the new deal, the first $10,200 of unemployment benefits would be non-taxable for households with incomes under $150,000, the aide said.

Much of the impasse focused on Sen. Joe Manchin, a moderate Democrat from West Virginia who expressed interest in plans from Republicans and Democrats. In a Senate split 50-50 between Republicans and Democrats, opposition from Manchin would have put both sides’ amendments in jeopardy.

Earlier in the day, Democrats put forth a deal to keep the federal unemployment benefit at $300 per week until September. That was down from the proposed increase to $400 in the bill that passed the House last week. That benefit ended in August. It was unclear at the time if Manchin would have supported their proposed changes.

Senate Republicans signaled Manchin was poised to support their change to the benefits to extend the $300 benefit through mid-July – a tweak anathema to progressives, who had pushed for more generous unemployment benefits.

The Senate is now poised to press forward on the stimulus bill, which Democrats want to make law by next week. Congress faces a countdown to get the stimulus package to Biden by mid-March, when Americans are set to lose the current weekly federal unemployment boost.

More: The Senate is debating Biden’s COVID stimulus bill. When can you expect help? Here’s what we know.

Story continues

Live stimulus updates: Senate Democrats reach deal to keep weekly unemployment benefit at $300 per week

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki released a statement Friday night saying Biden “supports the compromise agreement, and is grateful to all the Senators who worked so hard to reach this outcome.”

The bill with a change to unemployment benefits could face uncertainty if it passed in the Senate and was sent back to the House. Since the Senate made changes, the bill must pass the House again before Biden can sign it.

House Democrats have a slim majority in the House, and cannot afford to lose more than a handful of votes to pass the bill. Two Democrats voted against the bill the first time it passed the House, though progressives united around the bill.

But, more progressive Democrats’ are expressing frustration with the changes.

Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, D-N.J., said she was wondering whether she could still support the bill with the Senate’s changes.

“What are we doing here? I’m frankly disgusted with some of my colleagues and question whether I can support this bill,” she said in a tweet.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: COVID stimulus: Weekly unemployment would stay at $300 under deal