Coronavirus Emergency Legislation: Fixing “Bugs” and Keeping “Features”

I said in my post of March 23, which is currently pinned to the top of this blog:

“As we get thru this, we must all remember that mistakes will be made. Things will be done that shouldn’t have been. Things will be left undone that should have been done. But helping each other is more important than blaming each other.”

Which means, among other things, that we shouldn’t blame Congress for mistakes or the unintended consequences in the bills that were passed in March and April to deal with the economic fallout of COVID-19.  However, the fact that we shouldn’t blame Congress for provisions that have not turned out as we expected, doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t change or fix provisions that aren’t working as we thought they would or that have consequences we didn’t intend.

For example, among the provisions of the CARES Act passed in late March was an extra $600 per week in unemployment compensation for people who lost their jobs during the pandemic.  It was a well-intentioned provision, but it has meant, in some cases, that people are getting more from unemployment compensation than they were making from their job.  As one person commented, he didn’t know how he would make ends meet when he goes back to work.

That program will soon be up for renewal, and the question is whether this provision needs to be changed.  Some will say it needs to be renewed; $600 a week is just $15 per hour, which is what the minimum wage ought to be.  Others will say it is incentivizing people to not work.  Businesses want to start up again but can’t because their workers get more money from unemployment than from employment. 

In effect, it is a question, as they say in the software business, whether this is a bug or a feature.  I think it is a bug.  Others may think it is a feature.  We have more time than we did in March.  We need to think about which it is, and get things closer to right.