Thread by @blmohr

Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia—son of late SCOTUS Justice Antonin Scalia—has "expressed concerns about unemployment insurance being too generous & used his department’s authority...to limit who qualifies for joblessness assistance..."
washingtonpost.com/business/2020/…

“The Labor Department chose the narrowest possible definition of who qualifies for pandemic unemployment assistance,” said Andrew Stettner, a senior fellow at the Century Foundation who has spent two decades working on unemployment programs.

It's almost like he wants it to happen.
“You could have massive civil unrest if these systems cannot get checks out the door. We’re talking about 20% unemployment, maybe even more,” Lindsey Graham said. “The application process is a nightmare. The state systems are failing.”

"On the day the $2 trillion package passed the Senate, Scalia spoke with Sens. Rob Portman (R-OH), Ben Sasse (R-NE) & Tim Scott (R-SC), who had raised concerns the law’s new unemployment benefits were too large and would deter workers from returning to jobs."

"Scalia’s agency is also in charge of overseeing the new paid sick and family leave regulations, which apply to companies with fewer than 500 employees during the pandemic."

And the delay with getting money to small businesses.
“De­spite Trump’s prom­ise to deliver aid quickly, small-biz own­ers who have ap­plied for loans...are still largely wait­ing for the money...”
wsj.com/articles/small…