Senate Democrats announce deal on unemployment insurance, allowing Biden bill to move forward

[BumRushDaShow]

5. NYT just had a breaking on this a couple minutes ago too

Link to tweet

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The New York Times
@nytimes
Breaking News: Democrats reduced the stimulus bill’s jobless aid after Senator Joe Manchin threatened to defect. The Senate can now resume voting on other changes.
Stimulus debate slows to a crawl in the Senate as Democrats haggle over jobless aid.
Democrats had devised a compromise to drop their bid to raise the weekly federal payment but extend it for a longer period, but Senator Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, a crucial swing vote,...
nytimes.com
8:30 PM · Mar 5, 2021

Democrats reach compromise with Manchin on jobless aid, allowing stimulus vote to continue.

Top Democrats reached a deal late Friday to scale back weekly unemployment payments in President Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus plan, working to preserve moderate support for the package by dropping their effort to increase those payments to $400 and agreeing on a $300 supplement instead. The agreement came after a nine-hour impasse that paralyzed efforts to move Mr. Biden’s stimulus bill through the Senate, after Senator Joe Manchin III of West Virginia raised concerns that an overly generous benefit could discourage people from returning to work. By late Friday, Democrats had reached a compromise that appeared to satisfy Mr. Manchin.

The agreement, confirmed by a Democratic aide who disclosed the details on the condition of anonymity, would extend the existing $300 jobless benefit through Sept. 6, and make up to $10,200 of unemployment benefits received last year tax-free for households with incomes less than $150,000. It would also extend tax rules regarding excess business loss limitations for one additional year, through 2026.

“The president has made it clear we will have enough vaccines for every American by the end of May, and I am confident the economic recovery will follow,” Mr. Manchin said in a statement. “We have reached a compromise that enables the economy to rebound quickly while also protecting those receiving unemployment benefits” from being hit with unexpected tax bills.

Top Democrats had initially planned to drop their effort to increase the payments to $400 but extend them for an additional month, through Oct. 4. The agreement reached with Mr. Manchin shaves one month off that extension. The impasse had halted the measure just as the Senate began voting on proposed changes. What was supposed to have been a 15-minute vote on a minimum-wage increase stretched for hours as Democrats stalled for time, huddling on the Senate floor in search of a solution.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/05/us/stimulus-unemployment.html