Article from For Liberty by Norm Leahy.

A sign of how broken the U.S. labor market is owing to government-mandated lockdowns: Senators are debating competing schemes intended to make earning a paycheck more enticing than collecting unemployment.

Democrats have two plans: one that proposes to extend the $600 per week federal add-on to state unemployment checks through the end of the year, and another pushing a $1,000 federal subsidy to keep people on payrolls:

Senate Democrats, who are rallying behind a plan led by Sens. Mark Warner (D., Va.), Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.), Richard Blumenthal (D., Conn.) and Doug Jones (D., Ala.). The Democratic plan relies on a wage subsidy—the employee tax credit—to keep people on payrolls. It would cover 100% of wages and benefits, up to $90,000. Some Democrats say they might be open to ending the $600 in extra jobless benefits if Republicans rallied behind a wage subsidy.

Some Republican Senators are proposing a temporary, weekly bonus payment to get workers off the unemployment rolls, and back on the job.

A payment that would come in addition to their wages:

[Ohio Sen. Rob] says his proposal is good for employees “because they can go back to work, go back to their health care and go back to their retirement savings, and yet get a nice, nice bonus for doing so.” The proposal also saves taxpayers money and “saves small businesses from going out of business because they can get workers.”

Saving taxpayers money by spending more borrowed money to fix a problem government interference in the labor market? That’s not so much a plan as it is a recipe for disaster.