'Um, get a job': Ted Cruz's response to article claiming jobless Americans have 'few options' after seven million lost their benefits
Texas Republican Senator told more than 7 million Americans whose federal COVID unemployment benefits expired on Monday to 'get a job' that night, predictably provoking outraged responses from across the internet.
The conservative lawmaker shared an Associated Press article on the unemployment stipend drying up on Twitter late Monday night.
It was headlined 'Jobless Americans have few options as benefits expire.'
'Um, get a job?' Cruz wrote in an apparent answer to the outlet. 'There are millions of vacancies, and small businesses across the Nation are desperate for workers.'
People on the social media site lashed out within hours.
'I wish someone would take yours,' wrote Daily Beast editor-at-large Molly Jong-Fast.
Music critic Anthony Fantano replied to Cruz, 'Do you know any jobs where you can take your family on vacation while the people you're supposed to be serving are in the middle of a crisis?'
The Texas lawmaker suggested Americans who lost their pandemic unemployment benefits simply 'get a job'
He was referencing Cruz's family trip to Cancun, Mexico amid record-breaking winter conditions in February while millions of the senator's constituents lacked electricity and access to clean water.
Another Twitter user named Ms. Kops sarcastically asked Cruz, 'Can you tell us where to get a job like yours?'
'Says no to everything, on social media all day, full healthcare and pensions, $175,000 a year, no boss, frequent unrelated travel, 8 weeks paid vacation, no obligation or objectives, zero loyalty to your constituents,' she listed with a check mark emoji next to each item.
Actor George Takei shared an article on Cruz's statement on Twitter, writing: 'Your Republican party at work.'
And a group dedicated to flipping Texas's balance of power toward Democrats called Turn Texas Blue chimed in with its own retort.
'We all have a job Ted Cruz, and that job is to remove you from the Senate in 2024,' the group wrote referencing when Cruz's seat will once again be vulnerable in three years.
Cruz was lambasted across Twitter within hours for his comment
Meanwhile, more than 7 million Americans lost federal unemployment benefits yesterday and an additional 3 million stopped receiving a $300 weekly boost on checks as emergency COVID payments expired.
Four types of specialized unemployment payments that were created because of COVID ended on Monday.
They are: the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation ($300 weekly boost on existing payments), Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (for those who already exhausted their state unemployment benefits), Mixed Earners Unemployment Compensation ($100-per-week for people who previously worked as a contractor and employee) and Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (which widened who could apply for unemployment).
As of Labor Day, 18 months after they were first created, Americans will no longer be able to claim any of them.
A help wanted sign is posted at a taco stand in Solana Beach, California. More than 7 million Americans lost federal unemployment benefits yesterday and an additional 3 million stopped receiving a $300 weekly boost on checks as emergency COVID payments expired
Many say the expiry is overdue and that the inflated benefits drove a labor shortage because people could make more money doing nothing than they did in certain jobs.
The end of the payments comes after an abysmal jobs report in August with just 235,000 new jobs added to the economy - 765,000 fewer than the previous month.
Biden blamed it on the spread of the Delta variant and the number of people who are still not vaccinated. He then also tried to claim it was proof that his economic recovery plan was working.
Earlier in the summer, he said the incentives were keeping people from rejoining the workforce and told a restaurant owner in Ohio at a town hall in May: 'We’re ending all of those things that are things keeping people from going back to work.'
Both the public and private sectors suffered in COVID-19 with jobs dropping off suddenly as entire industries shut down
The number of people seeking unemployment benefits soared in April 2020
Job growth slowed suddenly in August - the month before the payments were ending - after months of progress. Biden blamed it on the Delta variant and people not getting vaccinated
He also told the restaurant owner that he'd have to increase wages if he wanted to entice people back to work.
Some Republican states ended COVID unemployment benefits early in an effort to incentivize people to return to work.
Biden on Monday released a video on Twitter wishing the country a Happy Labor Day and saying he had 'never been more optimistic about the future of America' but he did not address the payments expiring.
Jared Bernstein, who sits on the White House Council of Economic Advisers, defended ending the payments.
He told told the AP, 'Twenty-two-trillion-dollar economies work in no small part on momentum and we have strong momentum going in the right direction on behalf of the American workforce.'
Some say it is too soon to end the payments and that many industries - like tourism and restaurants - have not yet fully recovered.
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