On The Money: 3.2 million more Americans file new jobless claims | Schumer, Pelosi set to unveil ‘Rooseveltian’ relief package | Pelosi pushes back on Trump’s call for capital gains tax cuts

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THE BIG DEAL — 3.2 million more Americans file new jobless claims amid coronavirus downturn: Almost 3.2 million Americans filed new applications for unemployment benefits last week as the U.S. economy continues to atrophy under the stress of the coronavirus pandemic.

• In the week between April 26 and May 2, roughly 3.17 million Americans filed initial claims for unemployment insurance, according to seasonally adjusted data released by the Labor Department on Thursday.
• New applications for jobless benefits decreased slightly last week from the week prior, falling 677,000 from a revised total of more than 3.8 million applications filed in the week ending April 25. But the new batch of claims brings the total number of new applications for jobless benefits to more than 33 million since mid-March.
• And while the pain is nationwide, the job losses have not been felt equally. A Washington Post-Ipsos poll released Thursday found that about 11 percent of respondents who said that they had been laid off or furloughed were white. By comparison, 20 percent were Hispanic, and 16 percent were black.

“While initial claims for unemployment benefits continue to slowly recede from their peaks, they remain at painfully high levels,” wrote Oxford Economics economists Nancy Vanden Houten and Gregory Daco in a Thursday analysis.

I break down the report here.

LEADING THE DAY

Schumer, Pelosi set to unveil ‘Rooseveltian’ relief package: Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Thursday that he and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) will soon unveil a coronavirus relief package that he described as “Rooseveltian” in its scope and size.

• “We need big, bold action,” Schumer said in an MSNBC interview with Stephanie Ruhle, adding that he and Pelosi “are working very closely together on putting together a very strong plan, which you will hear shortly.”
• “We need Franklin Rooseveltian-type action and we hope to take that in the House and Senate in a very big and bold way,” he added, evoking former President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal.

Schumer’s remarks came in response to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) statement earlier this week that Congress needs to “take a pause” before passing more pandemic relief legislation after already approving $3 trillion in aid.

Schumer on Thursday said the fiscally cautious approach now being taken by Republicans like McConnell and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) reminded him of former President Hoover’s response to the 1929 stock market crash and the onset of the Great Depression.

Hoover famously, and wrongly, predicted a rapid economic recovery in 1930. Instead, the Great Depression lasted until 1939. The Hill’s Alexander Bolton has more here.

Pelosi pushes back on Trump’s call for capital gains tax cuts in next coronavirus bill: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Thursday pushed back on President Trump’s request that capital gains tax cuts be considered for the next coronavirus response package, suggesting that discussions about tax policy should be left for another time.

“If you want to compare the need for us to change the capital gains tax, which, once again, once again, ignores the fact that there are people in our country that are hungry, and that there is some equivalence to that, I respectfully disagree,” Pelosi said in a television interview with Bloomberg’s David Westin. “There are certain things that are urgent.”

• On Tuesday, the president tweeted that “the elimination of Sanctuary Cities, Payroll Taxes, and perhaps Capital Gains Taxes, must be put on the table.” 
• Two days earlier, he said during a Fox News virtual town hall that a payroll tax cut was a must-have for him.
• People pay capital gains taxes when they sell investments. Capital gains tax cuts have long been supported by conservatives, who view them as a way to boost investment and economic growth. But Democrats are typically critical of capital gains tax cuts, arguing that they largely benefit wealthy people. 

The Hill’s Naomi Jagoda has more here.

GOOD TO KNOW

• Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is pressuring the Treasury Department to nix consideration of any aid to the oil and gas industry as lawmakers set aside funds to battle economic impacts of the coronavirus.

• A group of Democratic senators sent a letter to Amazon on Thursday questioning it over the firings of four workers who had spoken out about the company’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

• Alphabet Inc.’s urban development organization Sidewalk Labs has reportedly canceled plans to develop a “smart district” in Toronto due to economic concerns brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.

• Senate Health Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) said Thursday that the United States needs “millions more tests” to safely reopen the economy.