CLUB FOR GROWTH STATEMENT ON “BACK TO WORK BONUS”

  |  

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Club for Growth President David McIntosh issued the following statement in response to reports that certain Republican Senators and Senior Advisors to the President are considering a “Back to Work Bonus” to incentivize a return of employees to the workforce.

“The whole idea goes in the wrong direction. First the federal government paid bonuses for workers to stay on unemployment, now it’s going to use taxpayer money to pay bonuses to some favored people to go back to work. It’s not fair to tax workers to pay these bonuses – stop it. Congress should end the perverse incentive in the coronavirus unemployment benefit. That will do more to help restore full employment and open up the economy.” – David McIntosh, Club for Growth President

Background:  In March, Club for Growth warned the public about a perverse incentive in the coronavirus legislation that would cause many employers to dump their employee into unemployment and make them eligible for a significant $600 per week unemployment insurance benefit on top of States’ own unemployment insurance benefits. This has only inflated the number of unemployed Americans – now over 40 million out of the workforce. This is a clearer recognition there is a fractured unemployment insurance system in many states, and a wounded U.S. economy that needs rescuing. Now, some in Congress and the Administration are considering a $450 per week “Back to Work Bonus” that would offset the disincentive to return to work. We reject this unfair, and costly idea. It is wrong to saddle workers and our children with higher and higher tax burden. Congress can also take steps on systematic regulatory reform beyond President Trump’s bold Regulatory Relief to Support Economic Recovery Executive Order