New York Times editorial: Mitch McConnell Could Rescue Millions. What Is He Waiting For?
EDITOR'S NOTE: Click here to read: No, unemployment benefits do not discourage work, a Boston Globe editorial; and here to read from Business Insider: The $600 unemployment bonuses did not lead to people working less, Yale study shows.
The economy is in dire shape. Millions of Americans are about to lose federal aid. The Senate is going on vacation.
The worst economic news on Thursday was not the official announcement that the American economy shrank at an annualized rate of 32.9 percent in the second quarter of 2020 — a grim quantification of the pain caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
No, the really bad news was the lack of action on Capitol Hill.
Congress needs to extend the emergency aid programs that were created in March to help Americans endure a broad suspension of economic activity. Instead, even as the pandemic rages on, Congress is allowing those aid programs to expire.