Over the course of the pandemic that's killed over 600 thousand Americans and completely upended daily life in the United States for more than a year, millions of people found themselves suddenly unemployed.
Compounding this obstacle was the addition of other pandemic-induced fiscal constraints, like widespread school closures that required childcare and virtual learning resources.
As a result, Congress passed or preserved expanded unemployment benefits as parts of pandemic relief legislation multiple times since the beginning of the crisis.
But this past weekend, those benefits expired, reducing checks for millions of Americans by $300 and withdrawing them completely for millions more, even as pandemic related costs remain with the rise of the Delta Variant.
In response to this, Republican Senator Ted Cruz had some callous advice for those whose benefits are expiring.
Um, get a job?\n\nThere are millions of vacancies, and small businesses across the Nation are desperate for workers.https://twitter.com/abc3340/status/1435018899007881217\u00a0\u2026— Ted Cruz (@Ted Cruz) 1630985688
Cruz suggested that it was expanded benefits which left small businesses "desperate for workers," but evidence has shown otherwise. More than half of states refused federal aid allocated for expanded unemployment, arguing that it would incentivize beneficiaries to return to work. Data indicates they were wrong.
Another argument is that the prevalence of minimum wages—which are rarely livable wages—and the absence of benefits have discouraged Americans from actively seeking employment.
Many of Cruz's critics pointed this out.
businesses are so desperate they\u2019ll do anything to get workers\u2026\n\nexcept pay a living wage because they know the govt will starve out and displace the working class long before they ever dare to raise wages.https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1435084107084619786\u00a0\u2026— hasanabi (@hasanabi) 1631027977
Ahh yes. Let\u2019s tell Americans who don\u2019t want to go back to exploitive work, making an unlivable wage, in the midst of a pandemic, that\u2019s killed over 600K people\u2014to just \u201cget a job\u201d on LABOR DAY \n\nYou have a job making $174K + a year and you still don\u2019t do it.https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1435084107084619786\u00a0\u2026— \ud83c\udf31Olivia Julianna \ud83c\udf31 (@\ud83c\udf31Olivia Julianna \ud83c\udf31) 1630991310
Some context from the August jobs report:\n-1.5 million people said they weren\u2019t able to take a job because of a pandemic-related obstacle.\n-The number of people who lost work last month because of COVID-19 increased by 400k\n\nWe're not talking about millions of freeloaders here.https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1435084107084619786\u00a0\u2026— Sylvan Lane (@Sylvan Lane) 1631031901
Get a job? Um, 20 of the top 25 states dependent on federal welfare benefits are GOP states. https://wallethub.com/edu/states-most-least-dependent-on-the-federal-government/2700\u00a0\u2026\n\nThere's no "worker shortage." There's GOP denying a living wage to fund billionaire tax cuts. Your billionaire bootlicking is starving Americans to death. Horrid.https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1435084107084619786\u00a0\u2026— Qasim Rashid, Esq. (@Qasim Rashid, Esq.) 1631021226
The Wall Journal & the Harvard Business School just reported on how employers aren\u2019t serious & throw out millions of resumes. \n\nThey found hospitals passing on nurses who lack \u201ccomputer programming\u201d skills and retails who demand \u201cfloor-buffing\u201d experience. \n\nJob posts \u2260 hiring.https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1435084107084619786\u00a0\u2026— Alex Morash (@Alex Morash) 1631028895
Telling people to get a job when we don\u2019t have a living wage or Medicare For All is not going to get it done.\n\nThe American People deserve to be paid fairly & have healthcare that is not attached to their job.\n\nWhen the recession hits, it\u2019ll be your fault for reckless governance.https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1435084107084619786\u00a0\u2026— Jen Perelman (@Jen Perelman) 1631035439
They were also quick to call out Cruz's hypocrisy.
Y\u2019all pay him $15k per month to say this to you. He\u2019s a US Senator, literally living off the government, telling people to get a job. During a pandemic, that\u2019s surging. Y\u2019all are NOT giving these people enough pressure. He should be scared to tweet this recklessly.https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1435084107084619786\u00a0\u2026— AshleyStevens (@AshleyStevens) 1631030414
Man Who Jetted to Cancun During Snowstorm Surprised You Don\u2019t Want to Bus Tables During Plaguehttps://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1435084107084619786\u00a0\u2026— Elliott Downing (@Elliott Downing) 1631034719
tell me you haven't had a real job in a decade without telling me you haven't had a real job in a decade.https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1435084107084619786\u00a0\u2026— Jessica Huseman (@Jessica Huseman) 1631031753
Cruz opposes raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, which is still not a livable wage in most, if not all, states. He is also against a public healthcare system that would allow unemployed Americans to access medical care without financial devastation.
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