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The Department of Labor’s grim unemployment report put further pressure on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to take a broader stimulus deal so that Americans struggling to pay for food and rent may receive rapid relief, as coronavirus cases increase across the country.
In November, the United States experienced its slowest growing month since spring, according to the department’s Friday report. Employers added just 245,000 jobs last month, and although the unemployment rate fell from 6.9 to 6.7 percent, it was largely due to an influx of people leaving the population. active.
“It’s a lousy report,” said Diane Swonk, chief economist at Grant Thornton. “It will turn negative next month.”
McConnell has rejected a new bipartisan $ 908 stimulus proposal, which House of Commons Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and President-elect Joe Biden have backed. Instead, the Republican leader is waiting for a slightly modified $ 550 billion version of his previous GOP proposal. But the new unemployment report has given his detractors, Democrats and economists new ammunition to demand that he accept the larger deal.
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“This latest jobs report shows the need for strong and urgent emergency aid is more important than ever. Senator McConnell must heed the pleas of millions of struggling American families,” Schumer tweeted Friday.
Democratic Senator Ron Wyden accused McConnell of blocking relief legislation. “Congress knows how to help workers and families. It knows how to prevent the looming recession,” he tweeted. “One person stands in the way. Mitch McConnell’s political games cost lives and livelihoods.”
Elise Gould, senior economist at the nonprofit Institute for Economic Policy, warned that “millions of workers and their families will have an even harsher winter” if Congress does not provide relief quickly.
“The unemployment rate edged down to 6.7%, but for the ‘wrong’ reasons, as 400,000 people left the workforce,” Gould said, citing the latest unemployment figures. “The number of unemployed for 27 weeks or more – the long-term unemployed – climbed to 3.9 million in November. Today, more than a third [36.9%] of the total unemployed are long-term unemployed. “
Jeremy Funk, a spokesperson for Accountable.US, a non-corruption government watchdog, condemned McConnell for rejecting the bipartisan proposal.
“Mitch McConnell is apparently ready to ruin the holidays and the economy for working families and small businesses unless he gets his way,” Funk said in a statement. “McConnell must pass serious relief legislation to provide help where it is really needed, such as communities of color that have been left behind in past pandemic relief efforts.”
McConnell said he would not support a bill that includes aid to states and local governments, but a number of Republican senators – including Senators Lisa Murkowski, Kevin Cramer, Bill Cassidy, Chuck Grassley, Joni Ernst , Marco Rubio and Thom Tillis – gravitated towards the compromise proposal.
With the remaining benefits of the COVID-19 stimulus package set to expire at the end of December, Biden expressed confidence on Friday that a bipartisan agreement will be passed soon.
“All I can say is that I am satisfied that there are a sufficient number of Democrats and Republicans in the United States Senate, as well as important votes coming out of the House of Representatives, to put on foot a serious package that will prevent us from leaving. the advantage here, provide the kind of resources that are needed immediately, “said the president-elect.
Pelosi and Schumer urged McConnell to break the deadlock on Tuesday. “In light of the urgency to meet the needs of the American people and the hope of the vaccine,” Major Democrats said in a statement, “it’s time for Chief McConnell to sit down with Democrats to finally start a true bipartisan effort. to meet the needs of the country. “
Newsweek contacted McConnell’s office for comment.
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