Senator Marshall: President Biden has delivered a government funded labor shortage

(Washington, D.C., May 19, 2021) – U.S. Senator Roger Marshall, M.D. spoke on the Senate floor today about the U.S. worker shortage caused by enhanced federal unemployment benefits brought on by President Biden and the Democrats. The current labor shortage has led to companies struggling to find employees and a record breaking 8 million open jobs across the country. In Kansas, there are 57,000 job openings, and the March labor report shows over 58,000 Kansans received unemployment insurance.

You may click HERE or on the image below to watch Senator Marshall’s speech in its entirety.

Background:
Last week, Senator Marshall introduced the Get Americans Back to Work Act, bicameral legislation to repeal the increase in unemployment benefits brought on by President Biden and the Democrats. Earlier this year, Democrats forced through legislation without any Republican support that provided $300 more in unemployment benefits, in turn making it more profitable for many Americans to stay unemployed. This legislation follows the release of the dismal Department of Labor (DOL) report showing an uptick in the unemployment rate to 6.1% and employers only adding 266,000 jobs last month, despite widespread projections of over one million jobs to be gained in April. The Get Americans Back to Work Act decreases unemployment benefits to $150 per week at the end of May, and then fully repeals them out at the end of June. Click HERE for more information on this legislation.

Senator Marshall said in part, “Democrats have made it more profitable for many Americans to stay unemployed. That’s because these policies are not intended to help our economic recovery. They’re intended to reform our American system and create more dependency on the government. This leap towards socialism comes at a time when our nation is on its way to reaching herd immunity and businesses are emerging from government imposed lockdowns. Now President Biden has delivered them a government funded labor shortage… While there are certainly people that needed access to increased unemployment benefits during the heart of this pandemic, unemployment insurance was never meant to be a permanent salary replacement…For all of these reasons, last week, 15 of my colleagues joined me in introducing the Get Americans Back to Work Act, which decreases federal unemployment benefits to $150 per week at the end of May, and then fully repeals them altogether at the end of June.”

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