Republican Unemployment Plan Fails to Meet North Carolina’s Needs

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

July 21, 2020

Republican Unemployment Plan Fails to Meet North Carolina’s Needs

Tillis, Burr Must Extend Full $600 Weekly Federal Payments to Offset North Carolina’s Worst-in-the-Nation State Unemployment

Raleigh, N.C. - Reports released earlier today indicate that Senate Republicans will not propose fully extending $600 in expanded federal unemployment payments as part of their next stimulus plan. Anything less than fully funding continued $600 weekly payments would mean a major pay cut for hundreds of thousands of struggling North Carolinians. North Carolina has some of the lowest state unemployment payments in the country, and if federal unemployment insurance disappears, average weekly payments in North Carolina will drop from $877 to just $277.

In an editorial today, the Capitol Broadcasting Company called on Senators Tillis and Burr to extend the $600 federal payments, saying the payments have “injected $4.2 billion into the North Carolina economy – putting food on out-of-work family tables; paying rent and utility bills; childcare costs and medical care costs. It is money that gets spent in retail stores that keeps other workers on the job – and pumps sales taxes into the state and local government treasuries.”

“Anything less than a full extension of the $600 federal unemployment payments would be a failure by Senator Tillis and Senator Burr to adequately protect struggling North Carolina families,” said Piedmont Rising Executive Director Casey Wilkinson. “Hundreds of thousands of people remain out of work because of the pandemic, and Tillis and Burr should not be making it harder for them to afford housing, food, and prescription drugs. These federal payments must be extended in full.” 

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