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Welcome back to this week's edition of the Washington Weekly newsletter - bringing you the latest and greatest policy updates from Washington, D.C.
Biden won't seek to extend enhanced $300 unemployment benefits past September 6
President Joe Biden's administration won't seek to reinstate enhanced weekly $300 unemployment benefits set to expire on September 6 and is instead urging states that want to continue the extra payments to use their share of COVID-19 rescue funds. "The temporary $300 boost in benefits will expire on September 6, as planned," Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Labor Secretary Marty Walsh co-wrote in a letter to lawmakers. "As President Biden has said, the boost was always intended to be temporary, and it is appropriate for that benefit boost to expire." The enhanced benefits, designed to help Americans who lost jobs because of the pandemic, were enacted in the federal CARES Act under former President Donald Trump last year. The boost, originally $600 but later cut in half, was extended twice, most recently to September 6 under Biden's American Rescue Plan that Congress passed in March. Unemployment in the U.S. has dropped to 5.4%. Several states with Republican governors have already opted out of the benefits, slamming the extra money as a financial disincentive for the unemployed to get back to work.
House Adopts $3.5 Trillion Budget Blueprint
The House adopted a $3.5 trillion budget resolution this week, after a White House pressure campaign and assurances from Speaker Pelosi helped unite a divided caucus to push ahead on the core of Biden’s economic agenda. The 220-212 vote for now puts to rest an intra-party rift between liberals and centrists that loomed over Democrats’ budget framework and the Senate’s $550 billion bipartisan infrastructure deal. Pelosi released a statement committing to passing the infrastructure legislation by September 27, 2021 and vowed to ensure that any Biden agenda bill the House takes up has sufficient support to pass the Senate. The latter agreement was demanded by moderates—some from swing districts—who do not want to head into the 2022 mid-term election year having to vote on a historically costly bill that has no chance of becoming law.
Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) Introduces the Small Business Tax Fairness Act
On July 20, 2021, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-OR) introduced the Small Business Tax Fairness Act (S.2387). This proposal would usher in significant changes, most detrimental, to the current 20% deduction for qualified business income for pass-through entities (also known as the 199A deduction).
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