When Congress created the $600 per week unemployment bonus in the CARES Act, it appropriately set an expiration date of July 31. The largest bonus in the history of the program (by several hundreds of dollars) was only intended to be available in the short term, as millions were laid off and we entered the early, uncertain phase of the COVID-19 pandemic.
That bonus has done a predictably devastating amount of damage, but now some liberals in Congress would like to extend the handout for at least another six months, even as employment numbers are rising and the economy is reopening. Republicans in Congress and the Trump administration need to hold strong and let this bonus expire on time.
