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Local officials who want to extend enhanced unemployment benefits can do so, the White House said yesterday, a day after the administration and U.S. Congress allowed a program to lapse which had boosted payments during the COVID-19 pandemic, Reuters reported. Programs providing up to $300 extra a week to millions of people who lost their jobs during the pandemic ended on Monday as the U.S. celebrated Labor Day. Benefits were also available for people who normally do not qualify for state unemployment money, with checks going to those without jobs for an extended period of time and to "gig workers" who perform on-demand services, including as drivers, delivering groceries or providing childcare. Those people will be cut off entirely. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that there are other options available for states to extend benefits to people in need. The funding for extra jobless benefits had been provided as an economic stimulus measure in a series of bills following the COVID-19 pandemic, including the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan passed in March by Biden and his fellow Democrats. The administration never pushed for a nationwide extension. Psaki said the White House would "continue to work with states where you're living to help them implement programs, including the distribution of the American Rescue Plan funding, so that you can get the assistance you need." Republicans opposed the benefits, saying that they would discourage work at a time when a record 10.1 million job openings were available, as of the end of June. Many governors cut off the extra payments in their states. Still, there was little direct evidence the payments were the primary factor pushing people out of the labor force.

A U.S. House of Representatives committee this week will attempt to advance sweeping legislation to expand healthcare benefits for the elderly and other social services as part of Democrats' $3.5 trillion domestic investment plan, Reuters reported. The House Ways and Means Committee plans to debate a wide-ranging measure on Thursday and Friday. The package is expected to draw lock-step opposition from Republicans, and also faces uncertain support from Democrats with key Senate moderate Joe Manchin objecting to its large size. "Later this week, the Ways and Means Committee will put an end to the idea that only some workers are worthy of ‘perks’ like paid leave, child care, and assistance in saving for retirement, and finally commit to investments that make these supports fixtures of the American workplace," committee Chairman Richard Neal said in a statement. But already there was talk of reducing the $3.5 trillion price of the legislation. Passage in the Senate will require the support of all 50 Democrats, who aim to use a maneuver called "reconciliation," which would allow them to pass the legislation by a simple majority vote instead of the 60 votes needed for most bills in the 100-member chamber.

Lawmakers are bracing for budget battles later this month when they return to Washington, where they’ll be racing against the clock to pass trillions of dollars in spending while the threat of a government shutdown looms, The Hill reported. Before October, the House is aiming to pass two major pieces of legislation: a roughly $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill and a forthcoming $3.5 trillion spending package backed by Democrats that would advance key parts of President Biden’s economic agenda. They’ll also need to pass government funding legislation to avoid a shutdown on Oct. 1. House leadership has set a Sept. 27 deadline to vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill as committee chairs rush to finish drafting their portions of the larger spending package by Sept. 15 to hold a floor vote shortly thereafter. Progressives have threatened to block the bipartisan bill if it comes to the floor before the Democratic-only measure that focuses on issues such as health care, climate change and education.

Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) is demanding a “strategic pause” in action on President Joe Biden’s economic agenda, potentially imperiling the $3.5 trillion tax and spending package that Democratic leaders plan to push through Congress this fall, Bloomberg News reported. Manchin said that rising inflation and a soaring national debt necessitate a go-slow approach and a “significantly” smaller plan than the one Democratic leaders and the White House have endorsed. “By placing a strategic pause on this budgetary proposal, by significantly reducing the size of any possible reconciliation bill to only what America can afford and needs to spend, we can and will build a better and stronger nation for all our families,” Manchin said in the op-ed. In comments Wednesday at an event hosted by the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce, the moderate Democrat said his party should “hit the pause button.” Lawmakers, he said, have too many other pressing issues before them, including heightening national security concerns after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.