Hi, I'm Dan Pramak and welcome to Axios Recap, sponsored by What It Takes.

Today is Monday, July 27th. Gold prices are way up, coronavirus infection rates in Texas and Arizona are down,

and we're focused on unemployment benefits in the new stimulus bill.

The White House and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell this afternoon rolled out their proposal for the next federal stimulus, which they are calling the Heels Act.

Now they need to negotiate not only with the House, but also with Senate Democrats,

given that a number of GOP senators have already signaled

their intention to vote against the White House and McConnell.

In short, the final stimulus bill will be bipartisan, or there won't be a final stimulus

bill.

Lots of contentious stuff to work out, but perhaps none more so than unemployment benefits, which currently are going to an estimated

30 million Americans. Democrats, they want a continuation of the pandemic status quo. That means

regular unemployment payments from states, plus $600 per week in supplemental payments from

the federal government. Republicans, they want the supplemental payment number to be $200 per week until states can figure out how to pay people 70% of their lost weekly wages.

Why it matters? Well, first, money. Again, 30 million people collecting unemployment benefits, and that $400 difference between the parties works out to $12 billion per week.

Second, there are no easy answers as to which side is right.

Democrats, well, they've got a pretty good argument that for some, $400 could be the difference between paying the rent or not. And for others,

it certainly means less disposable income, which means less money being spent in the real economy.

That's Stimey's economic growth and ultimately job growth. For Republicans, well, they counter

that the $600 means many Americans make more by staying unemployed than by going back

to work, a perverse incentive that makes it harder for certain businesses to resume operations,

assuming they are able to resume operations. Oh, and this is maybe the most important point.

Those $600 payments, they expire this Friday, and there's little hope of any bill getting passed

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