House Republicans propose offering Americans a 'return to work bonus'

House Republicans are proposing a $1,200 bonus for Americans returning to work as the coronavirus pandemic slows, providing an alternative to Democrats' plan to extend the extra $600 a week in unemployment benefits included in virus-related stimulus legislation.

Republicans on the Democrat-controlled House Ways and Means Committee cited an analysis from CBO to support their idea, instead of extending the $600 weekly federal unemployment benefit past its July 31 end date.

“The extension of the additional $600 per week would probably reduce employment in the second half of 2020, and it would reduce employment in calendar year 2021. The effects from reduced incentives to work would be larger than the boost to employment from increased overall demand for goods and services," reads the CBO analysis. 

According to the GOP committee members, the federal expansion of unemployment benefits was "intended to provide relief for those who lost their jobs due to the government lockdown— but these funds shouldn’t undermine a return to work. Rather than continue subsidizing unemployment where it is no longer necessary, these funds can be put to more appropriate use in encouraging workers to return to work."

Some congressional Republicans have argued that the extra federal compensation — on top of state weekly unemployment payments — is more than some Americans earned at their jobs before the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Texas Rep. Kevin Brady, the top Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee, said that Congress should work to redesign emergency unemployment benefit in the CARES Act "so it doesn’t continue to act as a barrier to getting people back to work" as states begin to reopen their economies.

“If we don’t reconnect workers to available jobs, more businesses will fail, the economic recovery will be slower, and the painful recession will last longer," Brady said in a statement about the return to work bonus proposal. "That’s why I’ve introduced the Return-to-Work Bonus, that transforms emergency unemployment benefits into a $1,200 bonus for the jobless to return to work."

Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, said a back to work bonus is "worth exploring" but he would oppose it as a replacement for an extension of the $600 emergency federal coronavirus unemployment benefit.

"Back to work bonus is not a replacement for continuing supercharged unemployment benefits. It's certainly an idea worth exploring. I think we need to be paid with hazard pay to ensure folks who are working get the same boost,” Wyden said on Tuesday.