Business & Economy

On The Money: GOP cool to White House’s $1.6T coronavirus price tag | Company layoffs mount as pandemic heads into fall | Initial jobless claims drop to 837,000

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THE BIG DEAL—GOP cool to White House’s $1.6T coronavirus price tag: The latest White House coronavirus relief offer with a $1.6 trillion price tag received a cool reception Thursday from congressional Republicans.

The new offer from Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, which exceeds the original $1.1 trillion Senate GOP package and the $1.5 trillion the White House signaled it could support last month, was made as part of renewed talks this week with Democratic leaders.

But Republicans, including influential chairmen and members of leadership, are warning they can’t support it, creating another potential obstacle for negotiators trying to strike a deal on emergency COVID-19 aid after nearly two months of stalemate.

The Hill’s Jordain Carney has more here.

The background: The pushback comes as Republicans have struggled to unite behind a strategy on the coronavirus relief talks.

But to get a deal with congressional Democrats, Republicans would have to increase their price tag. 

LEADING THE DAY

Company layoffs mount as pandemic heads into fall: Major corporations are laying off thousands of workers as the U.S. heads into fall facing a resurgent pandemic and deepening economic damage.

“Companies held on to workers expecting a much more rapid recovery than has been possible,” said Julia Pollak, labor economist at job posting and recruitment website ZipRecruiter.

“It’s clear now to many of these companies that a swift recovery is not possible.”

I explain why here.

The layoffs:

The context: Those job losses will not be reflected in Friday’s employment report for September, the last one to be released before Election Day, but the pain they bring may be front of mind for voters as they head to the polls and mail in their ballots.

The rise in job losses comes as the labor market was already showing signs of weakness, and as millions of Americans who have already lost their jobs are in danger of losing government support systems.

“If you pull away someone’s flotation device, they usually don’t sink immediately,” said Martha Gimbel, senior manager of economic research at Schmidt Futures.

“But eventually, they’re going to start drowning, and you’re just seeing companies accepting the fact that they are not going to be able to get through another six months, year, year and a half — however long this takes — without permanent changes to staffing and how they do business.”

Read more: New jobs report expected to underscore slowing recovery

Initial jobless claims drop to 837,000: The number of people filing initial unemployment claims for the last full week of September dropped to a seasonally adjusted 837,000, a drop of 36,000 from the previous week.

“New unemployment claims in the traditional programs administered by states were down in the latest week, whether looking at the seasonally adjusted or non-seasonally adjusted counts. Still, they remain historically elevated,” said Bankrate senior economic analyst Mark Hamrick.

The Hill’s Niv Elis breaks it down here.

GOOD TO KNOW