Letter to Speaker Pelosi, Majority Leader McConnell, Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, and Minority Leader Schumer - Concern Over Extending Supplemental Unemployment Insurance

Letter

Dear Speaker Pelosi, Minority Leader McCarthy, Majority Leader McConnell, and Minority
Leader Schumer:

We write to thank you for your efforts on bipartisan legislative packages, which continue
to provide relief for hard-working Americans during this unprecedented time. As debate about the
appropriate ongoing legislative response continues, we are increasingly concerned by proposals
extending the $600 supplemental unemployment insurance (UI) provided in the Coronavirus Aid,
Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

As states throughout the nation are reopening industries, the negative impact of
supplemental UI on employers' ability to incentivize employees to return to the workplace is
becoming apparent. Although the additional assistance was made in good faith, unfortunately,
many of these job creators have found their employees are receiving more UI assistance than they
were previously receiving from their employer. Researchers at the Becker Friedman Institute for
Research in Economics report 68 percent of individuals eligible to receive unemployment
assistance would receive a UI amount greater than their previous earnings, with one out of five
receiving more than double their prior wages.

At this critical point in reopening, our economy and our business owners cannot afford to
have their employees earning a substantial income from their fellow taxpayers. Small businesses
receiving loans from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) are especially harmed if they cannot
provide competitive wages and persuade their employees to return to work within the allotted time
frame for PPP forgiveness. The supplemental UI was intended to be a lifeline for those whose
employer was unable to retain them, not set individuals on a path to continued reliance on government assistance. If these benefits are extended, it would only reinforce and deepen the
structural issues and rampant abuse of our public assistance programs that existed prior to the
coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Our focus should be on helping our constituents return to work while also supporting
businesses as they safely resume their operations and attempt to recover financially. We ask that
you take these concerns into consideration and allow the $600 supplemental UI benefits to expire
at the end of July, as intended in the CARES Act. Once again, thank you for your previous efforts
and your attention to this matter.