White House and Congress Clash on Relief Plan as Jobless Aid Expires

WASHINGTON — The White House and Congress hurtled over an economic and political cliff on Friday, failing to reach agreement to extend $600-per-week federal jobless aid payments for millions of Americans before their midnight expiration and risking a backlash from voters amid a pandemic-induced recession.

Republicans and Democrats heaped blame on each other for the breakdown, even as they said they would continue to try to strike an agreement on a recovery package that would restore the benefits, which have become a critical lifeline for laid-off workers and the economy itself. But in allowing the lapse, President Trump and congressional leaders in both parties were treading on politically perilous ground three months before the general election.

The relief package under discussion is almost certainly the last chance Mr. Trump has to inject fresh stimulus into the battered economy before he faces voters in November, with his political standing damaged amid widespread public dissatisfaction over his handling of the pandemic. Republicans, whose hold on the Senate majority is under threat, could also pay a steep price for failing to deliver relief to struggling Americans, after waiting weeks to present their own proposal and ultimately endorsing a deep cut to the enhanced jobless benefits.

But the impasse also amounts to a calculated risk for Democrats, who have pressed to extend the full $600-a-week federal unemployment payments through January as part of a sweeping $3 trillion recovery plan. They opted to reject Republicans’ last-ditch proposals for a short-term extension or a continuation of the aid at a lower rate, taking the position that allowing the benefits to expire was better than agreeing to an aid proposal that they considered far too stingy to meeting the needs of a crippled economy and a continuing public health crisis.