House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) defended a proposed $600 weekly increase in unemployment payments to laid-off workers affected by the coronavirus pandemic on Wednesday, rejecting assertions by some Republican senators that people would rather collect government assistance than keep their jobs.
“Please don’t resent our lowest-paid workers in America for getting $600 so that they can meet the needs of their families. Spend the money,” Pelosi said on PBS NewsHour. “It’s immediate. Spend the money, inject demand into the economy, grow the economy and, at the same time, give people a little more confidence and less stress as they deal with the important health issue, health challenge that this is.”
