Beshear: Ending extra jobless aid now would hurt economy

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Gov. Andy Beshear says cutting off the supplemental federal payments to unemployed Kentuckians now would hurt the state’s economy as it recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic. But the Kentucky governor said Monday he’s willing to consider ending the weekly $300 federal unemployment payment eventually. The Democrat says he’s trying to “thread the needle” of maintaining federal enhancements that pump money into the economy while encouraging people to go back to work as the economy reopens. U.S. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell says governors are “having to take matters into their own hands and turn off” what he calls “extra-generous benefits.”