Cheers! Senate GOP Picks Tax Breaks for Three Martini Lunches Over Unemployment, Food Assistance

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

July 30, 2020

Cheers! Senate Republicans Pick Tax Breaks for Three Martini Lunches Over Extended Unemployment, Food Assistance

Meanwhile, 26,000 New North Carolina Claims Show Unemployment Crisis Isn’t Ending As Payments Disappear

Raleigh, N.C. - As part of their rapidly collapsing stimulus package, Senators Richard Burr and Thom Tillis’ Senate Republican allies proposed expanding tax breaks for Mad Men-style “three martini lunches” by doubling the business meal deduction from 50% to 100%. In the same bill, the Senate GOP refused to extend emergency food assistance and slashed federal unemployment payments by $400 per week.

According to the Department of Labor, 26,141 North Carolinians filed initial claims for unemployment last week.

“Thousands of out-of-work North Carolinians are wondering how they’ll afford any food, but Senator Burr and Tillis’ Washington allies think we should give new tax breaks to the wealthy and well-connected for three-martini lunches,” said Piedmont Rising Executive Director Casey Wilkinson. “This pandemic and economic crisis are still going, and thousands of North Carolinians are still losing their jobs. Senators Burr and Tillis should demand that their party leadership stop looking for excuses for more special interest tax breaks, and instead extend $600 unemployment payments for North Carolinians struggling to afford housing, health care, and the other basic living expenses they need to survive.”

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