Trump’s $300 unemployment funding is already running out, leaving millions in crisis again!!!

 

Trump’s $300 unemployment funding is already running out, leaving millions in crisis again!!!

In recent days, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the agency funding the unemployment aid program, said the benefit was scheduled to last for a maximum of six weeks from the beginning of August. The benefit has been going to workers in 48 states, Guam and D.C.

The agency has told states including Texas, Iowa, Montana, Tennessee and New Hampshire that the week ending Sept. 5 was the last covered by the additional benefit. Some states appear to have received even less. New Mexico, for example, told residents that they could expect only four weeks of payments — assistance lasting only through Aug. 22.

Out-of-work Americans have spoken of feeling abandoned again as leaders in Washington missed another deadline to prevent crucial aid from lapsing.

“I’m frustrated that nobody can come to a resolution,” said Jessica Coffelt, 42, a mother in Houston who in March lost her job as a manager for a clothing wholesaler. “You literally are catching me calling my car company to figure out a way to delay my payments.”

Coffelt said that there has been so much confusion about the executive order that she was surprised to receive an email from the state saying that the FEMA money had run out, making the week ending Sept. 5 the last for which she would receive the extra payment.

Without it, she’ll have to rely entirely on the $521 a week she gets from the state, an amount she elected to stop having taxes withheld from because she needs whatever she can get to pay her bills.

With more than $30 billion of that money already distributed, the administration is beginning to cut off the states that began spending the additional unemployment benefit.

White House officials are searching for ways to funnel additional money to the jobless-benefit program, according to three people with knowledge of the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal administration deliberations.

But federal budget law restricts how much funding can be redirected without congressional approval, prompting labor advocates and some economists to call on the White House to work with lawmakers on a more permanent solution to provide jobless benefits. Trump’s executive action is expected to have provided about six weeks of additional benefits.

“We knew this funding was finite, and we are now seeing it’s stopping in some states. I hope this creates some pressure for Congress to actually extend the federal unemployment compensation,” said Michele Evermore, a policy expert at the National Employment Law Project, a nonprofit group.

The shortfall means millions of jobless Americans like Coffelt are again facing a financial cliff.

“It’s just unbelievable,” said Carter Young, 66, who has been out of work in the hospitality industry since March and has watched yet another package of aid expire. “I can’t believe they’re doing it.”

Young was furloughed from his job as a clerk at a resort in Sedona, Ariz., in March and was laid off July 1. He and his wife, a retired schoolteacher, have been getting by for the moment, but they worry about their bills, including a mortgage and $130,000 of debt from putting three daughters through college.

House Democrats passed a bill in May to continue the $600 payments through the end of the year. But Trump and congressional Republicans say that the weekly $600 payment discourages workers from rejoining the labor market, even though data and preliminary studies do not appear to support those claims.

The president’s disbursement of FEMA funds temporarily met the need. The administration was successful in enrolling the states in the program, with most applying to participate and distribute the new federal benefit. FEMA told congressional officials it has spent about $29 billion on the unemployment program, meaning about two-thirds of what was allocated has been spent.

A FEMA spokesperson confirmed in a statement that states would be able to provide the benefit for no more than six weeks.

The statement added: “Millions of Americans who are unemployed due to COVID-19 have benefited from an extra $300 per week from FEMA’s lost wages assistance program.”

The unconventional benefits have also caused significant amounts of confusion.

Janet Lieb, 62, an Iowa resident who has lost most of her work performing music at senior centers, said she was surprised to receive a $255 deposit in her account from the state unemployment agency Friday morning. She has been down to about $170 a week from the state since the $600 benefit expired in July. She said she had no idea how long the extra benefit would continue.

“I didn’t even know I was getting it,” she said. “I thought they were turning it down.”

It’s been tough for her and her husband to get by and will be even tougher if he loses his job at a manufacturing company that has weathered layoffs in the past few months, she said. Either way, by December, they could have to make tough choices about which bills to pay.

“You don’t really realize how high the bills are until you’re counting every penny and you’re looking at your budget and thinking that this is going to be gone in a couple of months and I’m going to have to call somebody and shut this off,” she said. “I’m really afraid of what is going to happen to those of us in the middle class.”

Some economists are suggesting the evaporation of federal unemployment support could have a ripple effect on the economy. Jobless workers spent roughly 75 percent of their $600 unemployment benefit, with much of that money helping businesses such as retail stores, groceries and gas stations, according to Ernie Tedeschi, who served as an economist in the Obama administration.

“When you take that away, it’s going to have a major impact on consumer spending in the economy in addition to representing a significant wound for these families,” Tedeschi said. “We’re right back at square one, where we were in August.”

State unemployment benefits will continue, although they are much less than workers had been receiving with the federal bonus payments. And there are limitations on how long many states allow the unemployed to collect benefits. In Florida, for instance, workers are eligible to receive 12 weeks of state unemployment benefits, while in most states the maximum period is 26 weeks unless lawmakers extend the benefit, said Elizabeth Pancotti, an economist at Employ America, a left-leaning advocacy group.

Some States Are Now Providing 6 Weeks Of Extra $300 Unemployment Benefits—And More May Soon....

Billions of dollars have already been distributed in the month since President Donald Trump signed an executive memo to provide an additional $300 weekly unemployment benefit for many of the nearly 30 million Americans who’ve lost wages and jobs as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

Under the executive action, states had until Sept. 10 to submit an application and a plan for administering the funds to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which has been charged with dispersing money from the Disaster Relief Fund for the so-called Lost Wages Assistance program. By today’s deadline, all but one state had applied, as did Guam and Washington D.C. And just one—Nevada—still awaited approval. (South Dakota has opted out.)

Approved states and territories got an initial promise of funding to cover eligible workers for three weeks of supplemental unemployment payments, retroactive to the week ending Aug. 1. That equates to a possible total of $900 in additional unemployment benefits from the federal government.

But several states have already requested—and gotten funding for—additional weeks. And on Wednesday, a FEMA spokesperson said that, based on state and Labor Department projections and current state spending rates, the agency estimates it will be able to cover the $300 supplemental unemployment payments for eligible recipients in approved states and territories for a full six weeks.

Still, if you’ve lost wages as a result of the pandemic, whether you get all six weeks of benefits—and when—may depend on where you live, and other factors. Here’s what to know.

Almost every state has now been approved by FEMA for federal supplemental unemployment benefits.

Tim Mossholder on Unsplash Who’s eligible for the $300 supplemental unemployment benefits?

Under the executive memorandum, unemployed residents in approved states and territories must have been getting at least $100 a week in regular unemployment assistance during the coverage period in order to qualify for the supplemental federal benefits. (Some states, like Idaho, have sought to provide additional aid to those getting less than $100 a week, too. The Idaho Department of Labor is seeking approval for up to $15 million in federal coronavirus relief funds to cover this group.)

The additional unemployment assistance can go to those receiving benefits from regular state unemployment assistance, as well as Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation and state-administered extended benefits.

The coverage period is retroactive to the week ending August 1, meaning if states are approved for six weeks, the coverage period would extend through the week ending Sept. 5.

Which states are offering more than three weeks of bonus unemployment payments?

A reported 33 states were already approved for at least one additional week of assistance as of Tuesday (though FEMA has not released which ones). But it’s likely more will request additional weeks of funding.

A FEMA spokesperson said states and territories are at various stages of receiving and distributing the FEMA lost wages program funding. Some have received funding for all six weeks and begun distributing it. Others have so far received funding for only three weeks and not yet distributed it. Others are somewhere in between.

Arizona, which was the first state to start issuing the supplemental unemployment benefits, has paid out five weeks and its Department of Economic Security expects to pay out a sixth week as well.

Massachusetts, which had the country’s highest unemployment rate in July, announced Wednesday that it has been approved for the full six weeks of supplemental unemployment benefits. The state has already processed the first three weeks, dating back to the week ending Aug. 1. Disbursements for the remaining weeks are expected to be completed by Tuesday, Sept. 15.

On the other hand, New York, which had the second highest unemployment rate in July, has only announced it’s approved for three weeks of additional unemployment benefits and the state said it could take weeks to distribute those. And New Jersey, which had the fourth highest unemployment rate (after Nevada, which is still awaiting approval for FEMA funds), was just approved Sept. 4 for three weeks of supplemental benefits and is working to set up distribution.

Hawaii Gov. David Ige announced last week that his state, which had the country’s highest state insured unemployment rate for the week ending Aug. 22 (the most recent weekly data available), was just approved for a fourth week of $300 supplemental unemployment benefits.

California—which also has one of the country’s highest jobless rates—started distributing initial Lost Wages Assistance payments over the last week. And the state announced Monday that it had now gotten approval for a total of five weeks of the $300 boost in weekly unemployment benefits.

As these supplemental unemployment payments are being distributed through a new Lost Wages Assistance program, states must set up an entirely new system to distribute them. Generally, those states that applied for and were approved early for the payments and were able to set up the new system quickly are more likely to have requested and gotten additional weeks of assistance.

Some states that applied for and were approved early for the supplemental benefits, like Iowa, have already gotten approval for six weeks. (Washington state has also been approved for six weeks of supplemental payments, according to its Employment Security Department.) Among other early applicants, Louisiana has been approved for four weeks to date and New Mexico has been approved for three weeks and requested a fourth. Other states that have announced approval for five weeks include Missouri and Minnesota.

Others are still in the process of setting up the system or just starting to distribute the additional payments. Florida, for example, just began distributing Lost Wages Assistance payments this week, and its Department of Economic Opportunity says its only been approved for three weeks of payments to date.

Could funding for the extra unemployment payments run out?

The FEMA grant for the Lost Wages Assistance program has a spending cap of $44 billion. As of Wednesday, just over $30 billion—or nearly 70 percent of the funding—had been distributed to states, Guam and the District of Columbia, according to a FEMA spokesperson.

The agency said it should be able to fund up to six weeks in $300 supplemental unemployment benefits to every state and territory that applied for this assistance by Sept. 10.

Still, that aid could get cut off early if the total value of the disaster relief fund, which is also tapped for weather-related and other disasters (like the West Coast wildfires), dips below $25 billion in value. The fund had about $74 billion at the end of July, before Lost Wages Assistance payments began going out. It could also end early if Congress enacts another weekly unemployment supplement.

While both political parties agree that an extension of supplemental unemployment benefits is likely needed, lawmakers have not yet agreed on a plan for extending the benefits.