{"id":539343,"date":"2021-05-25T05:06:05","date_gmt":"2021-05-25T09:06:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=539343"},"modified":"2021-05-25T05:06:06","modified_gmt":"2021-05-25T09:06:06","slug":"swing-district-dems-break-from-biden-on-increased-unemployment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/swing-district-dems-break-from-biden-on-increased-unemployment\/","title":{"rendered":"Swing-District Dems Break From Biden on Increased Unemployment"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fswing-district-dems-break-from-biden-on-increased-unemployment%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=539343&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div readability=\"32.329411764706\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"article-category\"><a class href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/coronavirus\/\">Coronavirus<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"article-excerpt\">Business owners &#8216;want to make money, they want to be open, but they&#8217;re having a problem getting people,&#8217; says Dem Rep. Slotkin<\/p>\n<figure class=\"post-thumbnail-container relative lg:mr-24 w-full my-4 mb-8\">\n\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"736\" height=\"514\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/fb_image-924.jpeg\" class=\"w-full lazyload blur-up wp-post-image\" alt srcset=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 736px) 100vw, 736px\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/fb_image-3545.jpeg 736w, https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/rsz_gettyimages-1309114826-300x210.jpg 300w, https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/rsz_gettyimages-1309114826-703x491.jpg 703w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" \/><figcaption class=\"absolute text-white p-4 w-full text-right text-xs bottom-0 bg-black opacity-75\">\n\t\t\t\tGetty Images\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<span class=\"text-gray text-xs md:text-lg\"><a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/author\/collin-anderson\/\" title=\"Posts by Collin Anderson\" class=\"author url fn text-red-700\" rel=\"author\">Collin Anderson<\/a> \u2022 May 25, 2021 4:59 am<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<div readability=\"142.02434077079\">\n<p>House Democrats from swing districts are admitting that enhanced unemployment benefits are keeping American workers at home\u2014just months after they touted their work to extend the provision.<\/p>\n<p>In town halls and local interviews, Democratic Reps. Elissa Slotkin (Mich.), John Garamendi (Calif.), Cindy Axne (Iowa), and Andy Kim (N.J.) all tied the expanded payments to April&#8217;s hiring shortfall. The U.S. economy added just 266,000 jobs in April, a significant drop from the 770,000 added in March and far below the nearly 1,000,000 jobs economists expected to see. Weeks later, 440,000 American workers filed unemployment claims.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Every single business owner that I know that has reached out to me has talked about this as their number one issue,&#8221; Slotkin said Tuesday in response to concerns that &#8220;boosted federal unemployment&#8221; is hindering employers&#8217; ability to fill vacancies. &#8220;They want to make money, they want to be open, but they&#8217;re having a problem getting people.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The Michigan Democrat&#8217;s comments undermine President Joe Biden, who has repeatedly rejected any link between the enhanced benefits and sputtering U.S. job creation. Following April&#8217;s underwhelming jobs report, Biden said those who &#8220;claim Americans won&#8217;t work, even if they find a good and fair opportunity, underestimate the American people.&#8221; At the same time, however, the president directed his Labor Department to help reinstate laws that bar workers from receiving unemployment if they reject a suitable job offer.<\/p>\n<p>Not all Democrats are convinced the effort will drive people back into the workforce. Just days after Biden&#8217;s directive, Garamendi said such work-search requirements\u2014which were suspended during the coronavirus pandemic\u2014are &#8220;not really enforced very often.&#8221; Garamendi, like Slotkin, also noted that &#8220;there&#8217;s a lot of discussion among the business community that the unemployment insurance system is keeping people from wanting to go back to work,&#8221; adding that it &#8220;probably does in some cases.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Garamendi defended his support for extending the enhanced payments through Biden&#8217;s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, telling the <em>Washington Free Beacon<\/em>&nbsp;the legislation &#8220;has been a tremendous success.&#8221; But the Democrat conceded that some states &#8220;might be able to scale back the expanded unemployment benefit&#8221; before it officially expires in September\u2014a position that puts him at odds with the Biden administration, which has opposed decisions from GOP governors to withdraw from receiving the federal benefits.<\/p>\n<p>Axne in May also said she&#8217;s heard complaints of &#8220;people [who] aren&#8217;t coming back to work because of the expanded unemployment.&#8221; The Iowa Democrat quickly pivoted to coronavirus concerns, arguing many of her constituents &#8220;still won&#8217;t feel comfortable going back to work&#8221; because &#8220;Iowa is still not in a great place when it comes to COVID.&#8221; The state has vaccinated more than half of its adults, and cases are now at their lowest seven-day average in more than a year.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to Slotkin, Garamendi, and Axne, Kim acknowledged during a Tuesday town hall that the April jobs report was &#8220;lower than we&#8217;d like it to be&#8221; and reflective of a major hiring problem. He went on to lament that some people are &#8220;gaming the system&#8221; by &#8220;taking advantage of [the expanded benefits] in ways it was not intended to do.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The comments reflect the uphill battle facing Democratic leaders as they attempt to keep vulnerable members on message during a period of slower-than-expected economic growth. Democratic National Committee chairman Jaime Harrison released a video Tuesday <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/harrisonjaime\/status\/1396902716090339335?s=21\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">dismissing<\/a> the notion that &#8220;unemployment benefits are keeping Americans from wanting to return to work&#8221; as a &#8220;Republican talking point.&#8221; Harrison accused the policy&#8217;s GOP critics of thinking &#8220;Americans are lazy&#8221; and did not acknowledge that Democrats have voiced similar concerns.<\/p>\n<p>All four House Democrats specifically touted the enhanced jobless benefits after voting for the American Rescue Plan. Axne <a href=\"https:\/\/axne.house.gov\/media\/press-releases\/rep-axne-announces-support-american-rescue-plan\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">called<\/a> the provision &#8220;important,&#8221; while Kim <a href=\"https:\/\/kim.house.gov\/media\/press-releases\/congressman-kim-votes-pass-american-rescue-plan-announces-saturday-town-hall\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">stressed<\/a> the need to provide boosted payments &#8220;even when the virus is beaten.&#8221; Job Creators Network president and CEO Alfredo Ortiz admonished the members for their votes and called the nationwide hiring challenges &#8220;entirely predictable.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Small businesses are continuing to suffer from a worker shortage thanks to the Democrats&#8217; overly-generous unemployment benefits,&#8221; he said. &#8220;These benefits, which were crammed into the Democrats&#8217; $1.9 trillion stimulus bill, are incentivizing people to stay at home instead of rejoining the workforce.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Slotkin, Axne, and Kim did not return requests for comment.<\/p>\n<p>Republicans have long argued that Democrats&#8217; generous unemployment insurance would compel workers to stay home. One year ago, Senators Lindsey Graham (S.C.), Tim Scott (S.C.), and Ben Sasse (Neb.)&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/latest-news\/11th-hour-stand-off-could-sink-coronavirus-deal\/\">attempted<\/a> to block the $2 trillion CARES Act over the bill&#8217;s increased unemployment spending, which they said gave &#8220;a strong incentive for employees to be laid off instead of going to work.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Some GOP governors, including Montana&#8217;s Greg Gianforte, are replacing the expanded benefits with a return-to-work bonus in an attempt to spur job creation.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Montana is open for business again, but I hear from too many employers throughout our state who can&#8217;t find workers,&#8221; Gianforte <a href=\"https:\/\/dli.mt.gov\/_news-events\/2021\/05\/mt-rtw-bonuses\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">said<\/a> in a May statement. &#8220;Incentives matter, and the vast expansion of federal unemployment benefits is now doing more harm than good.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Coronavirus Business owners &#8216;want to make money, they want to be open, but they&#8217;re having a problem getting people,&#8217; says Dem Rep. Slotkin  Getty Images &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2312905,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/fb_image-924.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"Swing-District Dems Break From Biden on Increased Unemployment","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-539343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/fb_image-924.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"Swing-District Dems Break From Biden on Increased Unemployment","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=539343"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539343\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2312905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=539343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=539343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=539343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}