Millions in unemployment at stake for SC as Congress relief talks continue
For the nearly 150,000 South Carolinians receiving unemployment insurance, maximum weekly payments will decrease from $926 to $326 after $600 per week enhanced federal unemployment benefits expired Saturday.
Lawmakers in Washington are working to restore at least part of the enhanced payments, but have yet to come to an agreement on a dollar amount for the payments as part of a larger economic relief bill.
Some Senate Republicans, led by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., have proposed reducing the weekly payments to $200 for the weeks immediately after a new relief bill’s passage, and then shifting the payments to replace 70% of previous wages within 60 days. Another GOP plan would give states a choice of a $200 a week benefit or two-thirds of lost wages up to a maximum of $500 per week.
Democrats are insisting that the $600 weekly benefit be extended through January. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called the Republican proposal “pathetic” after a meeting this week with Republican negotiators. The House passed its own version of a new coronavirus relief bill in May.
Estimates from the progressive Century Foundation found that reducing the payments to $200 per week would result in South Carolinians receiving $96 million less in unemployment benefits per week and $863.8 million less by the end of September.
In June, South Carolina’s unemployment rate was 8.7% and roughly 210,000 people were unemployed, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the South Carolina Department of Employment and Workforce.
There is no consensus about how to proceed to restore the payments among members of South Carolina’s congressional delegation.
Tim Scott and Lindsey Graham, South Carolina’s two Republican senators, support some form of an enhanced federal unemployment benefit.
Kevin Bishop, a spokesperson for Graham, told The State that the senator believes the $600 per week is too much, citing concerns that people receiving unemployment benefits are making more money now than folks who are still employed full time.
Scott is of a similar mind.
“Sen. Scott’s concerns regarding expanded unemployment are not tied to a specific dollar amount,” said Sean Smith, a spokesperson for Scott. “He wants to make sure the unemployment system helps those who lost their jobs, and makes them as close to whole as possible.”
Rep. Joe Wilson, R-Springdale, agreed with Scott.
“While negotiations are still taking place, I do not support the approach of paying Americans more money to stay at home than they would make working, this is destructive of small businesses retaining jobs,” Wilson said in a statement.
Austin Livingston, a spokesperson for Rep. Ralph Norman, R-Rock Hill, said the congressman “does not favor a system by which someone can net more in unemployment insurance benefits than he or she could if suitable employment were available.”
Rep. Joe Cunningham also expressed concerns that the enhanced unemployment benefits are making it difficult for businesses to rehire workers.
The Charleston Democrat suggested to congressional leadership last week that lawmakers adopt a more localized approach, taking into account the average wage and COVID-19 case levels in each state or locality while determining how much the benefit should be.
Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, D-Columbia, supports the $600 per week enhanced benefit and voted in favor of extending the payments through January. The congressman said earlier this week that reducing the $600 benefits should be a deal breaker for Democrats.
Rep. Tom Rice, R-Myrtle Beach, did not respond to request for comment.
However, beyond the dollar amount, both Schumer and Pelosi, as well as Republicans, have also expressed concerns about states’ abilities to implement the GOP’s proposed 70% of wage replacement benefits.
Their concern is shared by Sue Berkowirtz, director of the South Carolina Appleseed Legal Justice Center, who told The State that the South Carolina Department of Employment and Workforce is “absolutely not” capable of implementing the proposed 70% wage replacement benefits. She said all 50 states would face serious challenges implementing such a system.
Heather Biance, a spokesperson for DEW, told The State in an email Wednesday that “a percentage or scaling payment based off previous wages would definitely be a more complex formula to create, test and implement into” South Carolina’s unemployment system.
“However, the unemployment system modernization DEW completed in 2017 puts our state at an advantage over the older mainframe system we previously had,” she said. “If this is the direction of Congress that is signed into law, then we will work with our vendor to comply with that law.”
Both Republicans and Democrats have said negotiations over the new relief bill will continue.
Berkowitz, whose organization works with low income folks in the Palmetto State, was also skeptical that less than $600 would be enough for struggling South Carolinians to get by. She said the $600 federal unemployment payments have allowed people across the state to pay rent and bills, buy groceries and pay for needed medication, among other things.
“The idea that people who are living on low wage ... can live on 70% of that low wage and maintain all their bills is absolutely insane,” she said.