Rob Portman: “let's be clear with what is going on here. The Republicans have offered a very generous unemployment system, including…”

“let's be clear with what is going on here. The Republicans have offered a very generous unemployment system, including 300 bucks per week, as is the current law after March 15, when it would otherwise expire, and taking it to July 18. Now, there is nobody in this Chamber that doesn't see that the economy is improving. And the Congressional Budget Office, which is a nonpartisan group here, has told us that, actually, by the middle of this year, we are going to be back to the prepandemic level in terms of our economy. Every economist looks at this and says that unemployment is going down. I note that my colleague over there, from Oregon, said that claims were higher last week in terms of unemployment. The 4-week average is actually down, considerably. Let me tell you what happened today, because I just looked it up. New York opened its movie theaters; Virginia announced they are opening their schools; West Virginia opened their bars, their restaurants, all businesses; Connecticut is opening indoor dining. This is happening every day. The economy is getting better. And everybody says--including, by the way, Larry Summers, a famous Democratic economist, who was Treasury Secretary under President Obama--that when you look at what happens with regard to unemployment insurance, if it is too high, it is a disincentive to work. I don't think Larry Summers is saying people are lazy.…”