Bah Humbug! Millionaires Collected More Than $200 Million in Jobless Assistance

WASHINGTON — Nearly 15,000 people who made $1 million or more last year were paid over $200 million in jobless assistance.

Today, Senators Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Jon Tester (D-Mont.), and Mike Braun (R-Ind.) introduced the Ending Unemployment Payments to Jobless Millionaires Act of 2023 that would end Unemployment Insurance (UI) compensation to anyone earning $1 million or more, despite having lost a job. Congressman John Curtis (R-Utah) introduced the bill in the House of Representatives.

In total, 14,951 millionaires collected $213.3 million in unemployment compensation in 2022, according to new figures from the IRS. This includes nearly $4 million paid to more than 300 multi-millionaires earning $10 million or more. Each of the unemployed millionaires was paid about $14,265, on average, for not working. In the previous two years, nearly half a billion dollars in jobless benefits have been paid to out-of-work millionaires.

Senator Ernst, who has been leading the fight to end jobless payments to unemployed millionaires, said, “‘Bah humbug!’ to this reverse-millionaires tax taking money out of the paychecks of hardworking Americans to pay the wealthy not to work. Ebenezer Scrooge certainly never would have learned the meaning of Christmas if he was visited by Washington bureaucrats instead of three ghosts. But just like Scrooge, it’s never too late for even the big spenders in Washington to change their ways! We can make that happen by passing this commonsense, bipartisan bill.”

“At a time when Montana families are struggling with rising costs on everything from housing to groceries, it defies logic for multi-millionaires to receive unemployment benefits on the taxpayers’ dime,” said Senator Tester. “I came to Washington to fight for working families, not fat cats who look for loopholes to line their pockets. My bipartisan bill will cut wasteful spending and put money back in hardworking Montanans pocketbooks where it belongs.”

“Because of a quirk in regulations, unemployment benefits are given based on active income and do not take into account passive sources. IRS data shows thousands of millionaires are gaming this system to receive unemployment insurance,” said Rep. Curtis. “It is embarrassing this bill is even necessary. Millionaires should not be receiving unemployment benefits on taxpayer dime.”

Background:

A 1964 Department of Labor regulation requires the payment of UI compensation to individuals who lose a job, even if they continue to receive other income.

In May 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, Ernst introduced The Returning Inappropriate Cash Handouts, or RICH Act, to stop the payment of new unemployment benefits to out-of-work millionaires. Senator Ernst awarded her May 2020 Squeal Award to the jobless millionaires who took these handouts from hardworking taxpayers.

When those payments were extended in 2021, Ernst filed an amendment to disqualify unemployed millionaires from receiving the bonus benefits and spoke on the floor opposing the continuation of the jobless payments to millionaires.

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