Senate Democrats strike deal for $300 unemployment benefits boost into September

Progress on the bill was halted after West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin — the Democrats’ crucial 50th vote — indicated he wouldn’t support the initial changes his Senate colleagues were proposing to the House version, which would have extended the $300 benefits boost through the end of September. Instead, he suggested he was open to a less generous plan floated by the Republicans, but eventually sided with his party after extracting some concessions.

Extending special pandemic programs

The Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program provides benefits to freelancers, gig workers, independent contractors and certain people affected by the pandemic, while the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation program increases the duration of payments for those in the traditional state unemployment system.

The White House indicated it was fine with the initial Senate deal unveiled earlier Friday.

Racing toward a deadline

The differences in the Senate and House bills, however, are one more issue the two chambers have to work out before they send the final legislation to the President for his signature.

Lawmakers’ self-imposed deadline of March 14 for passing the relief package is fast approaching. That’s when out-of-work Americans will start running out of benefits in the two programs, which will then phase out over the subsequent month. The $300 enhancement also ends next weekend.

Even if lawmakers finish the bill in coming days, some jobless Americans may see a lapse in benefits since it can take a few weeks for state unemployment agencies to program the new provisions into their systems.

This story has been updated to reflect the latest Senate negotiations.