The proposal would cover part of companies’ payroll costs.
Support for a once-radical idea — the government funding of company payrolls — is growing in Congress, as the legislative body scrambles to respond to the coronavirus pandemic and the massive economic fallout that’s resulted.
The newest proposal on the subject, the Paycheck Security Act, comes from Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Mark Warner (D-VA), Doug Jones (D-AL), and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT): Their bill, which was shared exclusively with Vox, would fund a portion of a company’s payroll costs, up to $90,000 per worker who has been laid off or furloughed, if a business can demonstrate that it has suffered a 20 percent month-over-month drop in revenue.
The thinking behind the legislation is similar to that of a bill introduced by Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) last week and an idea put forth by Republican Sen. Josh Hawley (MO) in a Washington Post op-ed. Jayapal’s legislation would cover a company’s payroll costs up to $100,000 per employee, while Hawley’s suggestion would cover 80 percent of wages, up to the United States’ median wage. Support for such plans is spanning an increasingly broad range of lawmakers.
“Bernie, Doug, and I represent the breadth of the Democratic Party’s thinking on this,” Warner said.
These ideas are picking up steam as lawmakers discuss what should be included in the next economic stimulus package from Congress, which may not be approved until May or later. Given the overwhelming demand for unemployment insurance and small-business loans that’s been observed in recent weeks, lawmakers see a comprehensive effort like this as increasingly necessary to reduce layoffs and relieve some of the pressure on an already overburdened unemployment system.
To read the entire article from Vox, click https://www.vox.com/2020/4/17/21225177/senate-paycheck-security-act