In Washington, Confusion Reigns and Tillis Dithers as Unemployment Payments Disappear

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

July 24, 2020

In Washington, Confusion Reigns and Tillis Dithers as Unemployment Payments Disappear

Tillis Downplays Massive Unemployment Pay Cut for Hundreds of Thousands of North Carolinians as “a Normal Part of the Sausage Factory.”

Raleigh, N.C. - With federal $600 federal unemployment payments set to expire in just a few days, Senator Thom Tillis tried to downplay the lack of a Senate GOP stimulus bill to extend them as “a normal part of the sausage factory.” Senate Republicans had promised to unveil a bill yesterday, but intraparty squabbles and disagreements with the White House caused that plan to collapse. In May, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the HEROES Act, an aid package that would extend unemployment payments through the end of the year.

If federal unemployment insurance disappears, average weekly payments in North Carolina will drop from $877 to just $277. Governor Roy Cooper urged Congress to extend unemployment payments, which North Carolinians have referred to as “lifeline” and how they “sleep at night now.”

Yesterday, Senator Tillis released a COVID relief “plan” that failed to make any mention of unemployment insurance at all.

“Perhaps Senator Tillis can spare some of that famous Washington sausage for the hundreds of thousands of North Carolinians who will struggle to afford food after federal unemployment payments disappear next week,” said Piedmont Rising Executive Director Casey Wilkinson. “Tillis’ utter lack of urgency in dealing with this economic crisis is shameful, and he is about to push North Carolina off a financial cliff. It’s time for him to stop making excuses and fully extend federal unemployment payments for North Carolinians.”

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