Congressional Democrats' complaints about the expiration of federal unemployment assistance are entirely political, former George W. Bush speechwriter and Fox News contributor Marc Thiessen has charged.

Writing in The Washington Post, Thiessen noted that five out of six recipients of the $600 federal benefit, which expired last week, made more money sitting at home than while working.

"The federal supplement did not affect employment during the lockdown, because the economy was shut down and there were no jobs available," Theissen said. "But now that businesses are reopening, employers trying to rehire workers are finding that they can’t compete with enhanced unemployment."

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When it comes to the current impasse over a "Phase 4" coronavirus stimulus, Thiessen argued, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., understand that the longer the economy suffers, the greater the potential political windfall in November.

"Pelosi has no incentive to negotiate," he wrote. "If Republicans capitulate, Democrats win — because the $600 supplement will slow the recovery while they get credit for forcing the GOP to give unemployed Americans a massive cash infusion.

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"And if Republicans don’t cave, Democrats also win — because people lose their benefits, the recovery craters and Republicans get the blame. The only scenario in which Democrats think they lose is compromise — because they would have to share credit with Trump for doing the right thing."

Thiessen wrote that outside of Congress, liberals are willing to work with conservatives to craft proposals that both help the unemployed and prevent those who are without a job from willfully refusing to work to collect a government check.

Former Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has created a "bipartisan plan" that would tie the federal unemployment supplement to each state's respective unemployment rate and a worker's last recorded earnings.

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"The supplement would be capped at $400 a week ... In states that cannot calculate previous earnings, the supplement would be capped at $200. It would be eliminated once a state’s unemployment rate drops to about 7 percent," Thiessen explained.

"This is perfectly reasonable proposal. And it shows that when politics are removed from the equation, it is possible to reach a bipartisan compromise. But Democrats don’t want a bipartisan compromise. They are insisting on extending the $600 a month until January with no changes and have refused to even pass a temporary extension of the program while the two sides negotiate."