As 3 Weeks Pass Since GOP Stimulus Bill Collapsed, Tillis & Burr Still Have No Plan For Unemployment

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

August 13, 2020

As Three Weeks Pass Since GOP’s Stimulus Bill Collapsed, Tillis and Burr Still Have No Plan For Unemployment

Raleigh, N.C. - It has been nearly three weeks since the Senate GOP’s stimulus bill collapsed and three months since the U.S. House passed the HEROES Act, yet Senator Thom Tillis and Richard Burr have no plan to provide long-term economic security for North Carolinians who are unemployed as a result of the pandemic. Since March 15th, more than 1.2 million North Carolinians have applied for unemployment insurance, with more than 13,000 new claims just last week. Last month, the national unemployment rate remained above 10%, higher than its peak during the 2008-2009 Great Recession.

Because Tillis and Burr failed to extend $600 federal unemployment payments, North Carolinians may see their federal payments slashed by 50% to $300. North Carolina has one of the worst state unemployment systems in the country thanks largely to program cuts Tillis pushed through the state legislature in 2013. This week, the Winston-Salem Journal reported that North Carolinians are exhausting their unemployment insurance faster than residents of other states.

“With every day that passes without a permanent, legislative extension of unemployment payments, Senator Tillis and Senator Burr further undermine the health and economic well-being of hundreds of thousands of North Carolina families,” said Piedmont Rising Executive Director Casey Wilkinson. “Thousands of people are still losing their jobs, and Tillis and Burr’s lack of urgency in protecting these families is deeply disturbing. Instead of sitting back and doing nothing, Tillis and Burr should demand the Senate pass a relief bill that includes an extension of $600 unemployment payments.”

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