In the prior relief legislation, Congress gave $600 a week in unemployment benefits, but now many Republicans see that as too high of a number, saying most people don’t make that much employed so it prevents workers from returning to work.

The Kentucky Republican recalled Democrats blocking the Senate GOP police-reform legislation in June following the death of George Floyd, a Black man who died at the hands of a White police officer over Memorial Day weekend that had sparked Black Lives Matter protests nationwide.

“When it’s time to actually make a law, Democrats would rather keep political issues alive than find a bipartisan way to resolve them,” Mr. McConnell said.

One of the major sticking points in negotiations on the HEALS Act, which would fund about $1 trillion in federal funding towards getting children back to school, getting workers back to work, and financing healthcare initiatives to fight COVID-19, is payments for unemployment recipients.
In the prior relief legislation, Congress gave $600 a week in unemployment benefits, but now many Republicans see that as too high of a number, saying most people don’t make that much employed so it prevents workers from returning to work.