8-Week Jobless Claim Total Hits 36.5 Million Due to Coronavirus

8-Week Jobless Claim Total Hits 36.5 Million Due to Coronavirus Almost 3 million people filed new claims for unemployment benefits last week.

The data released by the Labor Department further confirms the economic toll of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It comes as the Trump administration spars with public health officials over the timeline of reopening America.

On Thursday, President Donald Trump suggested that Democrats were attempting to slow reopening in order to damage his re-election chances.

Donald Trump, via 'The Washington Post' Democrats contend it remains unsafe to reopen, especially without a robust federal plan to mitigate new outbreaks as they occur.

House Democrats will vote Friday on their new $3 trillion spending bill which they have called the HEROES Act.

Senate Republicans have referred to the legislation as a Democrat "wish-list," indicating the bill will not pass.