Sen. McSally disappointed by stall to extend extra $600 unemployment aid
Jul 31, 2020, 10:00 AM | Updated: 1:56 pm
(AP Photo)
(AP Photo)
PHOENIX – Sen. Martha McSally said Friday that Congress allowing the extra federal unemployment benefits to run would be “disgraceful” and that the public was getting caught in political mudslinging.
An extra $600 in weekly relief is scheduled to end Friday. McSally took to the Senate floor Thursday to ask colleagues to extend the coronavirus-related benefit for a week, but minority leadership rejected the idea.
“Do you think it’s reasonable that we extend the $600 a week to buy time for this dysfunctional Congress to work out their differences? Doesn’t that sound like a reasonable request?” McSally said Friday on KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Arizona’s Morning News.
Republicans and Democrats agreed to talk again Friday and into the weekend.
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“Our job is to sit down and solve this problem and not have Arizonans be collateral damage,” McSally said.
Arizona has one of the lowest weekly unemployment benefits in the country at $240.
She blamed Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) for the impasse.
“Cut out his picture, put it on your refrigerator because he was the one that blocked that [extension] from happening,” McSally said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
