Ernst Ends Handouts to the Idle Rich
Ernst amendment in One Big Beautiful Bill stops taxpayer-funded unemployment payments for millionaires.
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Senate unanimously passed Senator Joni Ernst’s (R-Iowa) Ending Unemployment Payments to Jobless Millionaires Act as an amendment to the One Big Beautiful Bill to save up to $100 million over the next decade.
The bill will end the backwards practice of forcing small businesses and job creators to foot the bill for unemployment insurance for those making more than $1 million annually.
Click here to watch Ernst’s remarks.
Ernst’s full remarks:
“Too many of the idle rich are living high off the hog, collecting government checks for not working, while at the same time earning a million dollars or more from some other side venture.
“Thousands of out-of-work millionaires were paid more than $271 million in unemployment assistance during just the first two years of the Biden Administration.
“In 2022, the most recent year data is available, nearly 6,000 millionaires were paid almost $58 million in jobless benefits.
“That’s about $10,000 each for each millionaire to not work.
“The question is: WHY?
“Able-bodied millionaires shouldn’t expect handouts made possible by the overtaxed and overworked Americans.
“My amendment ends freebies for free-loading fat cats by disqualifying anyone making a million dollars or more from being eligible for unemployment income support.
“The Senate previously approved a similar proposal by a vote of 100 to zero that unfortunately never became a law.
“We can’t afford to miss this opportunity to save as much as $100 million by passing my amendment.
“So, let’s show some bipartisan unity for reducing the deficit by getting millionaires back to work.”
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