President Donald Trump speaks during the daily coronavirus briefing as Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia looks on in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on April 9, 2020 in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Trump Labor Secretary Condemned for 'Despicable' Efforts to Roll Back Unemployment Benefits, Paid Leave in Coronavirus Stimulus
"Trump's Labor Department has been working diligently to ensure that no U.S. worker has it too easy in the middle of a pandemic and burgeoning economic depression."
From his guidance rolling back paid leave benefits to his attempt to limit who qualifies for beefed up unemployment insurance, Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia's implementation of the multi-trillion-dollar coronavirus stimulus package is coming under fire from Democratic lawmakers and advocacy groups who say the former corporate lawyer's handling of the new law favors businesses over people in desperate need of assistance.
Scalia, son of the late Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia, "has used his department's authority over new laws enacted by Congress to limit who qualifies for joblessness assistance and to make it easier for small businesses not to pay family leave benefits," the Washington Post reported Friday.
"Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia is using his authority to limit who qualifies for assistance. This is despicable. We are in the midst of a pandemic!"
--Rep. Steve Cohen
In a tweet late Friday, Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) pointed to the unprecedented surge in jobless claims over the past month and ripped Scalia's "despicable" management of the CARES Act, which temporarily expands relief for the unemployed.
"Because of COVID-19, more than 16 million Americans have submitted unemployment claims in the past three weeks, but Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia is using his authority to limit who qualifies for assistance," Cohen wrote. "This is despicable. We are in the midst of a pandemic!"
While criticizing the stimulus package--which President Donald Trump signed into law late last month--as far too business-friendly overall, progressives have cautiously applauded the law's across-the-board expansion of unemployment benefits by $600 for a period of four months.
But lawmakers have voiced alarm at the Labor Department's lack of urgency in rolling out the benefits and, as the Post reported, Scalia issued guidance earlier this week that aims to "make it more difficult for gig workers such as Uber and Lyft drivers to get benefits."
Andrew Stettner, a senior fellow at the Century Foundation, ripped the department's guidance in a series of tweets:
Earlier this month, as Common Dreams reported, Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) slammed Scalia for quietly scaling back the already inadequate paid leave provisions in the CARES Act and creating "gratuitous loopholes" for companies to deny benefits to their employees.
"The Trump administration is twisting the law to allow employers to shirk their responsibility and is significantly narrowing which workers are eligible for paid leave," Murray said in a statement. "This simply can't stand. This guidance needs to be rewritten so workers get the leave they are guaranteed under the law."
The Post reported that under the Labor Department's newly issued rules, "businesses that deny workers paid leave don't have to send the government any paperwork justifying why. The Labor Department's guidance asks companies to 'retain such records for its own files,' a contrast with the heavy documentation required from gig workers who must prove they were affected by the coronavirus outbreak to get aid."
Scalia has not been shy in offering his opinion on the stimulus law's expansion of benefits.
"Unemployment is not the preferred outcome when government stay-at-home orders force temporary business shutdowns," Scalia wrote earlier this week in a Fox Business op-ed with Jovita Carranza, the head of the Small Business Administration. "We want workers to have work, not to become dependent on the unemployment system."
Heidi Shierholz, a labor economist with the Economic Policy Institute, called Scalia's warning about unemployment dependency in the midst of a global pandemic "an absolute disgrace."
As New York magazine's Eric Levitz put it Friday, "Trump's Labor Department has been working diligently to ensure that no U.S. worker has it too easy in the middle of a pandemic and burgeoning economic depression."
We are at a crossroads
This country and this world are at a monumental crossroads. In a few short weeks, US voters will have an opportunity to beat back the forces of fascism and confront the billionaires who are rigging the economy, our media system, and our democracy, making it increasingly impossible for ordinary people to get by. We’re not just talking about the election. We’re talking about what must be done once these fascist elements are vanquished from power. We need a bolder set of solutions than what either major party has so far been willing to offer and a working-class movement ready to fight like hell for it. Trump didn't emerge from nowhere. The conditions that fueled MAGA authoritarianism were created by decades of radical neoliberal economic policies and a corrupt political system dominated by corporate interests. They slashed taxes on the super-rich, promising that the benefits would trickle down. They said giveaways to the corporate titans would make life more affordable for the rest of us. It was all bullshit. And when a bitter, betrayed populace searches for someone to blame, right-wing demagogues have little trouble finding scapegoats. People know when they're being lied to, but you won't hear any of this from the corporate media. Only independent journalism—powered and funded by people who believe in building a better world—can deliver truly trustworthy daily news. Our Fall Campaign is underway, and we need your help. To power our newsroom through the rest of the year, we need to raise $125,000 by midnight on October 31. So if you share our vision, please contribute whatever you can to sustain our work. |
From his guidance rolling back paid leave benefits to his attempt to limit who qualifies for beefed up unemployment insurance, Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia's implementation of the multi-trillion-dollar coronavirus stimulus package is coming under fire from Democratic lawmakers and advocacy groups who say the former corporate lawyer's handling of the new law favors businesses over people in desperate need of assistance.
Scalia, son of the late Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia, "has used his department's authority over new laws enacted by Congress to limit who qualifies for joblessness assistance and to make it easier for small businesses not to pay family leave benefits," the Washington Post reported Friday.
"Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia is using his authority to limit who qualifies for assistance. This is despicable. We are in the midst of a pandemic!"
--Rep. Steve Cohen
In a tweet late Friday, Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) pointed to the unprecedented surge in jobless claims over the past month and ripped Scalia's "despicable" management of the CARES Act, which temporarily expands relief for the unemployed.
"Because of COVID-19, more than 16 million Americans have submitted unemployment claims in the past three weeks, but Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia is using his authority to limit who qualifies for assistance," Cohen wrote. "This is despicable. We are in the midst of a pandemic!"
While criticizing the stimulus package--which President Donald Trump signed into law late last month--as far too business-friendly overall, progressives have cautiously applauded the law's across-the-board expansion of unemployment benefits by $600 for a period of four months.
But lawmakers have voiced alarm at the Labor Department's lack of urgency in rolling out the benefits and, as the Post reported, Scalia issued guidance earlier this week that aims to "make it more difficult for gig workers such as Uber and Lyft drivers to get benefits."
Andrew Stettner, a senior fellow at the Century Foundation, ripped the department's guidance in a series of tweets:
Earlier this month, as Common Dreams reported, Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) slammed Scalia for quietly scaling back the already inadequate paid leave provisions in the CARES Act and creating "gratuitous loopholes" for companies to deny benefits to their employees.
"The Trump administration is twisting the law to allow employers to shirk their responsibility and is significantly narrowing which workers are eligible for paid leave," Murray said in a statement. "This simply can't stand. This guidance needs to be rewritten so workers get the leave they are guaranteed under the law."
The Post reported that under the Labor Department's newly issued rules, "businesses that deny workers paid leave don't have to send the government any paperwork justifying why. The Labor Department's guidance asks companies to 'retain such records for its own files,' a contrast with the heavy documentation required from gig workers who must prove they were affected by the coronavirus outbreak to get aid."
Scalia has not been shy in offering his opinion on the stimulus law's expansion of benefits.
"Unemployment is not the preferred outcome when government stay-at-home orders force temporary business shutdowns," Scalia wrote earlier this week in a Fox Business op-ed with Jovita Carranza, the head of the Small Business Administration. "We want workers to have work, not to become dependent on the unemployment system."
Heidi Shierholz, a labor economist with the Economic Policy Institute, called Scalia's warning about unemployment dependency in the midst of a global pandemic "an absolute disgrace."
As New York magazine's Eric Levitz put it Friday, "Trump's Labor Department has been working diligently to ensure that no U.S. worker has it too easy in the middle of a pandemic and burgeoning economic depression."
From his guidance rolling back paid leave benefits to his attempt to limit who qualifies for beefed up unemployment insurance, Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia's implementation of the multi-trillion-dollar coronavirus stimulus package is coming under fire from Democratic lawmakers and advocacy groups who say the former corporate lawyer's handling of the new law favors businesses over people in desperate need of assistance.
Scalia, son of the late Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia, "has used his department's authority over new laws enacted by Congress to limit who qualifies for joblessness assistance and to make it easier for small businesses not to pay family leave benefits," the Washington Post reported Friday.
"Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia is using his authority to limit who qualifies for assistance. This is despicable. We are in the midst of a pandemic!"
--Rep. Steve Cohen
In a tweet late Friday, Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) pointed to the unprecedented surge in jobless claims over the past month and ripped Scalia's "despicable" management of the CARES Act, which temporarily expands relief for the unemployed.
"Because of COVID-19, more than 16 million Americans have submitted unemployment claims in the past three weeks, but Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia is using his authority to limit who qualifies for assistance," Cohen wrote. "This is despicable. We are in the midst of a pandemic!"
While criticizing the stimulus package--which President Donald Trump signed into law late last month--as far too business-friendly overall, progressives have cautiously applauded the law's across-the-board expansion of unemployment benefits by $600 for a period of four months.
But lawmakers have voiced alarm at the Labor Department's lack of urgency in rolling out the benefits and, as the Post reported, Scalia issued guidance earlier this week that aims to "make it more difficult for gig workers such as Uber and Lyft drivers to get benefits."
Andrew Stettner, a senior fellow at the Century Foundation, ripped the department's guidance in a series of tweets:
Earlier this month, as Common Dreams reported, Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) slammed Scalia for quietly scaling back the already inadequate paid leave provisions in the CARES Act and creating "gratuitous loopholes" for companies to deny benefits to their employees.
"The Trump administration is twisting the law to allow employers to shirk their responsibility and is significantly narrowing which workers are eligible for paid leave," Murray said in a statement. "This simply can't stand. This guidance needs to be rewritten so workers get the leave they are guaranteed under the law."
The Post reported that under the Labor Department's newly issued rules, "businesses that deny workers paid leave don't have to send the government any paperwork justifying why. The Labor Department's guidance asks companies to 'retain such records for its own files,' a contrast with the heavy documentation required from gig workers who must prove they were affected by the coronavirus outbreak to get aid."
Scalia has not been shy in offering his opinion on the stimulus law's expansion of benefits.
"Unemployment is not the preferred outcome when government stay-at-home orders force temporary business shutdowns," Scalia wrote earlier this week in a Fox Business op-ed with Jovita Carranza, the head of the Small Business Administration. "We want workers to have work, not to become dependent on the unemployment system."
Heidi Shierholz, a labor economist with the Economic Policy Institute, called Scalia's warning about unemployment dependency in the midst of a global pandemic "an absolute disgrace."
As New York magazine's Eric Levitz put it Friday, "Trump's Labor Department has been working diligently to ensure that no U.S. worker has it too easy in the middle of a pandemic and burgeoning economic depression."