Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) vowed in a conference call with House Republicans last month that Senate Republicans would block the $600 weekly boost to state unemployment benefits from the federal government.

Also last month, GOP senators involved in planning for a phase four coronavirus relief bill said there was overwhelming support for entirely ending the federal enhancement of state unemployment benefits.

Now with the national unemployment rate projected to hit or exceed 20 percent, the highest number since the Great Depression, a growing number of GOP senators say the federal government should continue to augment weekly unemployment benefits in some form — though most want it lower than the $600 figure.

GOP senators fear that the wave of protests, riots and other forms of social unrest that has rocked major cities around the country is linked to the bleak economic picture and that their majority is on the line.

There’s broad agreement within the Senate GOP conference that the $600 per week federal enhancement of state unemployment benefits — a core element of the $2.2. trillion CARES Act — is too generous and provides a disincentive for returning to work.

But many Republican senators, including members of the leadership, now say the federal government should continue to enhance state unemployment benefits or provide a back-to-work bonus of $450 per week for laid-off workers who return to their jobs.

One Republican senator familiar with the negotiations said GOP lawmakers have changed their mind on ending the $600 per week federal benefit entirely because they are starting to realize “once the money is out there in the economy its hard to take it back” and that that the nation may be saddled with “long-term unemployment.”

Republicans worry that high unemployment numbers heading into the November elections will make it tougher for incumbents, putting the GOP majority at risk. Republicans have to protect Senate 23 seats while Democrats only have to defend 12.

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) warned on Tuesday: “I don’t think we can ignore the fact that this civil unrest is happening against a backdrop of 20-plus percent unemployment."

Some economic experts, including the Congressional Budget Office, now project that the nation could have double-digit unemployment into 2021.

Senate Republican Whip John Thune (S.D.) on Wednesday said Republicans are discussing how to handle the looming expiration of the federal augmentation of unemployment benefits.

“There are several ideas out there,” said Thune.

Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) has proposed providing a temporary $450 per week bonus on top of regular wages for people who leave the unemployment rolls and find a job.

Another idea, Thune said, “would be some sort of ramp down, gradual glide path that reduces the amount over time, depending on how long all this lasts.”

Thune said the federal increase of weekly unemployment benefits could last “until the end of the year” in some amount or form.

Asked if Republicans would now support ending the federal enhancement entirely, Thune said, “I don’t see how that works.”

“I think the unemployment rate is going to be pretty high maybe for some time,” he said.

That’s a shift from where Senate Republicans were a few weeks ago. Read more at The Hill