(CNN) Even as Congress raced to rescue the nation from the coronavirus pandemic last spring, Republican lawmakers were raising red flags about expanding unemployment benefits -- particularly providing the jobless with a weekly federal supplement worth hundreds of dollars. Plus, the pandemic continues to weigh on many Americans, despite the increase in vaccinations and drop in cases recently. Asa Hutchinson, a Republican, who on Friday announced his state would cease the federal benefits in late June. "Hard to single out unemployment benefits as 'dampening' job growth in the lowest-wage industries when those same industries are the ones with the fastest job growth," Ben Zipperer, economist at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, tweeted on Friday. Several Republican senators, however, almost derailed the massive $2 trillion rescue package over the $600 federal boost, which was added to state benefits.

Source: CNN May 09, 2021 11:03 UTC