It’s no secret that government grew at an astonishing pace during the pandemic. Unemployment claims quickly soared from two million to 33 million per week, as unprecedented $600-per-week federal bonuses and other expansions pushed unemployment spending to $900 billion. Stimulus checks, food stamp increases, housing expansions, new monthly child checks, and open-ended state aid all saw similar record pandemic payouts. With the expiration of Democrats’ American Rescue Plan and the demise of Build Back Better, that extraordinary expansion has now mostly run its course. But with another recession on the horizon, some in DC have begun planning the revival of pandemic benefits—this time on a permanent basis.
A little-noticed Washington conference last month headlined by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen reviewed these proposals, which can be found in a new book, Recession Remedies, just issued by the left-of-center Brookings Institution. That volume argues for reviving pandemic-style benefits, including by making unemployment “benefit generosity and duration…a function of economic conditions.” As Yellen summarized, “Preparing for the next recession means not only improving existing stabilizers but expanding their reach to other forms of social support.”
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