Virus Rages Out Of Control & McConnell Obstructs While Safety Net Set To Expire & Economy Teeters On Edge

Unemployment Benefits Expire The Day After Christmas, Eviction Protection, Student Loan Relief & Paid Family Leave Expire December 31

A Third Of Americans Are Struggling To Afford Basic Household Items, Economists Blame Lack Of Federal Action

More Than 1.1 Million Americans Test Positive In The Last Week, Hospitalizations At Record Levels

Nearly nine months into the pandemic, Americans are continuing to face an unprecedented dual challenge: a raging virus and a faltering economy. Trump’s failure to get the virus under control destroyed the American economy, causing more than 68 million to file for unemployment and countless businesses to close. 

Making things worse, Mitch McConnell has been blocking relief for those struggling to pay for rent, food and other basic necessities, and millions more will fall into despair as benefits are set to expire at the end of the month. McConnell and Senate Republicans need to stop obstructing robust relief for a suffering country or, economists warn, a dire situation will only get worse.

The Virus Continues To Break Records And Ravage Communities Across The US

• More Americans Are Currently Hospitalized With COVID-19 Than At Any Point Since The Beginning Of The Pandemic. “A record number of Americans — 90,000 — are now hospitalized with Covid, and new cases of infection had been climbing to nearly 200,000 daily.” [New York Times, 11/27/20]
• More Than 1.1 Million People In The US Have Tested Positive For COVID-19 In The Last Week. “Yet the sheer breadth of the current outbreak means that the cost in lives lost every day is still climbing. More than 170,000 Americans are now testing positive for the virus on an average day, straining hospitals across much of the country, including in many states that had seemed to avoid the worst of the pandemic. More than 1.1 million people tested positive in the past week alone.” [New York Times, 11/28/20]
• In Nine States, At Least 1 In 1,000 People Have Died Of Coronavirus. “As daily covid-19 deaths climb to levels not seen since early in the pandemic, nine states have hit one more grim marker: more than 1 in every 1,000 people dead of coronavirus-related causes. The list reflects the far-reaching toll of the crisis, spanning early hot spots, Southern states hit hard in the summer and rural parts of the country with increasingly strained hospitals. And it is growing. On Friday, South Dakota became the latest state to see at least one covid-19 death for every 1,000 residents, joining New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Louisiana, Rhode Island, Mississippi and North Dakota.” [Washington Post, 11/27/20]
• Dr. Michael Osterholm, A Member Of President-Elect Joe Biden’s COVID-19 Advisory Council Warned That Health Care Systems “Are Verging On The Edge Of Breaking.” “Health care systems ‘are verging on the edge of breaking,’ Dr. Michael Osterholm, a member of President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s Covid-19 advisory council, said in a podcast this month. The public does not realize how dire the situation is, Dr. Osterholm said, and may respond only ‘when people are dying, sitting in chairs in waiting rooms in emergency rooms for 10 hours to get a bed, and they can’t find one, and then they die.’” [New York Times, 11/27/20]
• Dr. Anthony Fauci: “We May See A Surge Upon A Surge.” “‘We may see a surge upon a surge,’ Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, told ABC’s This Week on Sunday. ‘We don’t want to frighten people, but that’s just the reality. We said that these things would happen as we got into the cold weather and as we began traveling, and they’ve happened.’” [NPR, 11/29/20]

While Americans Face Unprecedented Economic Challenges, Economists Warn Government Inaction Is Making Things Worse

• Mark Zandi, Chief Economist At Moody’s Analytics: “If Lawmakers Can’t Get It Together, It Will Be Very Difficult For The Economy To Avoid Going Back Into A Recession.” “Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, predicts annual GDP growth of around 2% in the October-December quarter, with the possibility of GDP turning negative in the first quarter of 2021. Economists at JPMorgan Chase have slashed their forecast for the first quarter to a negative 1% annual GDP rate. ‘This winter will be grim,’ they wrote in a research note. Zandi warned that until Congress agrees on a new stimulus plan to replace a now-expired multi-trillion-dollar aid package enacted in the spring, the threat to the economy will grow. ‘The economy is going to be very uncomfortable between now and when we get the next fiscal rescue package,’ Zandi said. ‘If lawmakers can’t get it together, it will be very difficult for the economy to avoid going back into a recession.’” [Associated Press, 11/25/20]
• Northwestern University Economist Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach: “Everything Is A Disaster.” “But those effects were short-lived. The bulk of the federal aid had faded by September. And more than 12 million workers stand to lose unemployment benefits before year’s end if Congress doesn’t extend key programs. ‘Everything is a disaster,’ said Northwestern University economist Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach, a leading expert on the economics of food insecurity. ‘I’m usually a pleasant person, but this is just crazy.’” [Washington Post, 11/28/20]
• More Than One-Third Of Americans Say There Are Living In A Household Where It Is Difficult To Afford Household Expenses. “Over one-third of Americans say they live in households where it is difficult to afford household expenses, including food, rent or mortgage, and student loans — the highest share in six weeks, according to the Census Household Survey.” [Axios, 11/30/20]
• 26 Million Americans Reported Not Having Enough Food To Eat During The Last Week. “One in 8 Americans reported they sometimes or often didn’t have enough food to eat in the past week, hitting nearly 26 million American adults, an increase several times greater than the most comparable pre-pandemic figure, according to Census Bureau survey data collected in late October and early November. That number climbed to more than 1 in 6 adults in households with children.” [Washington Post, 11/28/20]
• Jeremy K. Everett, Executive Director Of The Baylor Collaborative On Hunger And Poverty, Blamed The Rise In Hunger In The US On “The Unpredictable Government Response.” “‘It’s been driven by the virus and the unpredictable government response,’ said Jeremy K. Everett, executive director of the Baylor Collaborative on Hunger and Poverty in Waco, Tex.” [Washington Post, 11/28/20]
• More Than 778,000 Workers Filed For Unemployment Last Week While Approximately 68 Million Americans Have Filed Since March. “The number of people losing their jobs continues to increase as COVID-19 cases continue to surge across the United States. Last week, 778,000 workers filed for jobless claims as states impose additional lockdowns or stay-at-home orders. ‘Weekly unemployment insurance claims are moving in the wrong direction with the first back-to-back increases since July,’ said Robert Frick, corporate economist at Navy Federal Credit Union. ‘Together with a slower-than-expected drop in continuing claims, we’re seeing the effects of rapidly-rising COVID-19 cases across the country.’ Since the novel coronavirus emerged in the United States, approximately 68 million Americans filed for jobless claims.” [USA Herald, 11/25/20]
• More Than 20 Million Americans Are Currently Collecting Unemployment Benefits. “The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending November 7 was 20,452,223, an increase of 135,297 from the previous week. There were 1,487,844 persons claiming benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2019.” [Department Of Labor, Press Release, 11/21/20]
• As Many As 34 Million People In The US Are Facing Eviction. “If you’re scared that you won’t be able to come up with your rent, you’re not alone. As many as 1 in 5 renters say they’ve fallen behind during the pandemic, according to the Center on Budget Policies and Priorities. For Black renters, the share who are in trouble is closer to a third. And as many as 34 million people in the U.S. may be at risk of eviction, a new analysis by global advisory firm Stout Risius Ross found. ‘The United States is facing the most severe housing crisis in history,’ said Emily Benfer, an eviction expert and visiting professor of law at Wake Forest University.” [CNBC, 11/5/20]

Millions Of Already Struggling Americans Are Set To Lose Benefits By The End Of The Year Without A New Relief Package

• • About 12 Million Unemployed Workers In The United States Will Lose Benefits The Day After Christmas Without Additional Relief. “About 12 million jobless workers around the U.S. will lose their unemployment benefits the day after Christmas, according to a new analysis. The benefits cutoff could push many households into poverty while creating headwinds for the economic recovery, experts say.” [CBS News, 11/19/20]
    
  • The Pandemic Unemployment Assistance Program, Which Supports More Than 7 Million People, Ends On December 26. ‘The Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program allows independent contractors, the self-employed and gig workers to qualify for payments. It also opens up the program to those who can’t work because of the pandemic, including if they or family members are ill or quarantining or if their children’s schools are closed. An estimated 7.3 million Americans will lose these payments [on December 26], according to a new analysis from The Century Foundation.”  [CNN, 11/18/20]
    
  • Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation, Which Provides 13 Weeks Of Federal Benefits To Those Who Run Out Of State Support, Ends On December 26. “Congress created the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation program, which provides an additional 13 weeks of federally paid benefits to those who run out of state payments, which typically last 26 weeks. Nearly 3.6 million Americans had been out of work for at least 27 weeks in October, a stunning jump of nearly 50% from September, according to the latest jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. They now account for a third of the unemployed, up from less than a fifth a month earlier. More than 4.6 million workers will have these payments halted [on December 26], even if they haven’t received all 13 weeks, according to The Century Foundation analysis.” [CNN, 11/18/20]
    
  • The Federal Moratorium On Evictions Ends After December 31. “The nationwide eviction moratorium will also end after Dec. 31, 2020, which advocates worry will lead to a surge in homelessness right after the New Year.” [CNBC, 11/24/20]
    

• Student Loan Relief Is Set To Expire On December 31. “In March, the US government automatically suspended payments and waived interest on federal student loans. That meant millions of borrowers could skip making their monthly payments without their balances getting any bigger. Initially, the relief… was set to expire at the end of September. But Trump later moved the date to December 31 by executive order. If neither Trump or Congress acts to push the deadline back, millions of student loan payments will come due a couple of weeks before President-elect Joe Biden takes office on January 20.” [CNN, 11/18/20]
  

• Paid Family Leave Is Set To Expire On December 31. “Earlier in the year, lawmakers expanded paid family leave benefits for many workers who become ill or are caring for someone else. It was limited to employees of companies with fewer than 500 workers but provided up to two weeks of paid sick leave and an additional 10 weeks of paid expanded family leave for parents who need to care for children whose schools closed… Those benefits also are set to expire on December 31.” [CNN, 11/18/20]
  
• Relief Funds For State And Local Governments Are Set To Expire By December 30. “Congress provided $150 billion to state and local governments to help them cover coronavirus-related expenses. But states have to use those funds by December 30. States are on track to expend all the funds by the deadline… However, governors have repeatedly requested that they have more time to use the money and that they also be able to spend it on budget shortfalls, not just pandemic costs. So far, Congress has not complied.” [CNN, 11/18/20]