众议院议长南希·佩洛西和参议院民主党领袖查克·舒默周五抨击共和党人，指责他们“长达数月的混乱和拖延”造成了联邦失业福利的失误，该福利将在未来几天到期。
国会已同意提供每周600美元的失业救济金，作为3月份通过的2.2万亿美元的冠状病毒救济法案的一部分，但这些法案将于7月31日到期。
民主党领导人周五在一份联合声明中表示:“本周末，数百万美国人将失去失业保险，面临被赶出家门的风险，并可能被州和地方政府解雇，原因只有一个:随着美国危机的加深，共和党人几个月来一直犹豫不决。”
“我们原本预计在整个周末都在努力寻找下一个COVID响应包的共同点。共和党人花了这么长时间在他们之间达成共识，并继续抨击，这是完全不可接受的。时间至关重要，人们正在失去生命。”
众议院民主党人在5月份通过了一项额外的3万亿美元的冠状病毒救济法案，该法案将把联邦失业救济延长到今年年底，但共和党领导的参议院拒绝采纳这一措施。
在与白宫和财政部长史蒂文·姆努钦讨论了几天后，参议院共和党领导人还没有公布他们自己的提案。
2020年7月23日，美国总统唐纳德·特朗普的幕僚长马克·梅多斯和财政部长史蒂夫·姆努钦在华盛顿美国国会大厦与共和党参议院多数党领袖米奇·麦康奈尔会面后，就下一个冠状病毒刺激计划向媒体发表讲话。
众议员丹尼·戴维斯说:“你不能吃追溯。”，他还补充说，当需求迫在眉睫时，修正失业保险的失效并在事后给人钱是行不通的。
戴维斯说，阻止失业保险是基于种族主义的决定。
“我不想拐弯抹角:如果共和党人不能继续每周600美元的联邦失业补助，那将是一种种族歧视行为。”句号。戴维斯说，他补充说，在遭受公共卫生危机的经济和健康影响的人群中，非裔美国人和拉丁美洲人所占的比例不成比例。
民主党领导人强烈反对短期延长这些失业福利。佩洛西坚定地反复暗示她不会支持短期的东西，并坚持要通过一个更大的方案。
佩洛西周五说:“我很不愿意把这件事分开，失去所有的筹码。”“这是一种欺诈策略...来满足美国工薪家庭的需求。”
参议院共和党人和白宫似乎离达成一项刺激立法提案只有几英寸的距离，但这些谈判在本周晚些时候的最后一刻失败了，几乎确保了数百万美国人将看到那些增加的失业福利消失，直到国会能够达成一致。
2020年7月23日，华盛顿，参议院多数党领袖米奇·麦康奈尔走在国会山的走廊上。
周四晚些时候，美国广播公司新闻获得了一份共和党刺激提案的草案文件，预计将于下周初发布。
多个消息来源向美国广播公司证实，该提案草案将于周四分发给各成员，但他们警告称，该提案的内容可能会在周末发生变化。
该草案与参议院多数党领袖米奇·麦康奈尔(Mitch McConnell)周四在参议院的发言中概述的内容非常接近。麦康奈尔在发言中谈到了共和党领导层和白宫正在进行的谈判，包括为学校提供1050亿美元的资金，其中至少有一部分资金取决于学校在未来几个月重新开门。
该立法草案将授权为小企业提供有针对性的第二轮薪资保障计划贷款，并给予企业员工留用税收抵免以及购买测试和个人防护设备的税收减免。
共和党人还提议延长增加的失业福利，但幅度要小得多，相当于一个人被解雇前收入的70%。
“我们不会在基本工资替换的基础上延长它，它大约是工资替换的70%。我们正在处理与此相关的机械问题。”
提案草案还包括对美国人的第二轮刺激检查，但支付金额和资格标准仍有待确定。
Democrats knock Republicans for 'disarray' over expiring unemployment benefits
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer blasted Republicans on Friday, blaming their "months-long disarray and delay" for a lapse in federal unemployment benefits which are set to expire in the coming days.
Congress had agreed to provide a $600-per-week increase of unemployment benefits as part of the $2.2 trillion coronavirus relief bill passed in March, but those are set to expire July 31.
"This weekend, millions of Americans will lose their Unemployment Insurance, will be at risk of being evicted from their homes, and could be laid off by state and local government, and there is only one reason: Republicans have been dithering for months while America’s crisis deepens," the Democratic leaders said in a joint statement on Friday.
"We had expected to be working throughout this weekend to find common ground on the next COVID response package. It is simply unacceptable that Republicans have had this entire time to reach consensus among themselves and continue to flail. Time is of the essence and lives are being lost," the congressional leaders said.
House Democrats passed an additional $3 trillion coronavirus relief bill in May which would extend the federal unemployment benefits through the end of the year, but the Republican-led Senate refused to take the measure up.
Senate Republican leaders have yet to unveil their own proposal after days of discussions with the White House and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
"You can't eat retroactively," Rep. Danny Davis, D-Ill., said at a press conference Friday, adding that fixing the lapse of unemployment insurance and giving money to people after the fact doesn’t work when needs are immediate.
Davis said that blocking unemployment insurance is a decision based in racism.
"I'm not going to mince words: a Republican failure to continue the $600 a week federal unemployment supplement would represent a racially discriminatory action. Period. Any way you cut it, anyway you look at it," Davis said, adding that African Americans and Latinos make up a disproportionate share of those suffering the economic and health impacts of the public health crisis.
Democratic leaders are strongly opposed to a short-term extension of those unemployment benefits. Pelosi adamantly and repeatedly suggested she would not support something short term and insisted on passing a larger package.
"I would be very much averse to separating this out and lose all leverage," Pelosi said Friday. "It’s a fraudulent tactic...when it comes to meeting the needs of America’s working families."
Senate Republicans and the White House appeared within inches of securing a proposal on stimulus legislation but those talks fell through at the eleventh hour late this week, all but ensuring that millions of Americans will see those boosted unemployment benefits disappear until Congress can reach agreement.
Late Thursday night, ABC News obtained a draft document of the Republican stimulus proposal which is now expected to be released early next week.
Multiple sources confirmed to ABC that the draft proposal was being circulated to members on Thursday, though they cautioned that the contents within the proposal would likely change over the weekend.
The draft closely mirrors what Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell outlined in remarks laid out on the Senate floor Thursday on what GOP leadership and the White House are negotiating, including providing $105 billion for schools, with at least part of the funding contingent on schools reopening doors in the coming months.
The draft legislation would authorize a targeted second round of Paycheck Protecting Program loans for small businesses and would give businesses a tax credit for employee retention and tax deductions for purchases of tests and personal protective equipment.
Republicans are also proposing an extension of the enhanced unemployment benefits but at a far-reduced rate, equivalent to 70% of a person’s income before he or she was laid off.
"We aren't going to extend it on the base wage replacement, it's approximately 70% of wage replacement. We're dealing with the mechanical issues associated with that," Mnuchin told reporters Thursday.
The draft proposal also includes a second round of stimulus checks for Americans but the amount of the payment and eligibility criteria are still to be determined.
