Throughout the summer, President Joe Biden stressed that enhanced pandemic unemployment benefits were always meant to be temporary, saying it “makes sense” that they’ll expire in September. In response to pushback from Republicans and business interests over the extension, which passed in March, Biden also made it clear that Americans on unemployment would lose their benefits if they rejected any “suitable” job offer.

Now that the Delta variant threatens to prolong the COVID-19 pandemic indefinitely, the Biden administration has indicated that it may be open to extending federal enhanced unemployment benefits for jobless Americans. “He hasn’t made a decision to extend it,” said White House press secretary Jen Psaki, but “he also hasn’t made a decision not to.” Seven and a half million people will stop receiving benefits on September 6 if there is no extension.

Just as left-wing lawmakers led by Rep. Cori Bush successfully compelled the administration to extend the federal eviction moratorium earlier this month, we may see progressives agitate for continued enhanced unemployment benefits. But the Biden administration is also facing intense pressure from business leaders who claim to be struggling to find workers — that is, workers willing to work for what they’re willing to pay — and Republicans (and a few Democrats) who feel it’s time the government cracked the whip and ordered people back to work.