President Joe Biden's administration will assist Labor Department to restore enhanced weekly $300 unemployment benefits and encouraging states to utilize their portion of COVID-19 bailout money to maintain the payments.
States Can Use Rescue Funds To Extend $300 Weekly Unemployment Benefits
In a recently published article in USA Today, The administration is stressing that states may utilize their share of $350 billion in direct assistance from the American Rescue Plan to keep additional benefits flowing amid the decision of the Biden administration not to extend its federal aid.
Even if the U.S. economy improves, Yellen and Walsh believe that in areas where unemployment stays high, it may make sense for jobless people to continue getting extra benefits. According to them, the increase in the COVID-19 delta variant may represent a short-term threat to local economies and labor markets.
Yellen and Walsh said "Where a more gradual wind-down of income support for unemployed workers makes sense based on local economic conditions, American Rescue Plan funds can be activated to cover the cost of providing assistance to unemployed workers beyond September 6th," according to a published article in Yahoo News.
Biden Administration Willing To Assist the Labor Department To Extend the $300 Weekly Unemployment Benefits
According to the administration, the Labor Department will be ready to help states that wish to utilize existing unemployment insurance infrastructure to provide increased benefits using rescue money. In addition, the Treasury Department announced an extra $47 million in new CAREER awards to assist Americans in returning to work.
In a recently published article in Business Insider, according to Yellen and Walsh, Biden is also pushing for "long-term UI reform" as part of Congress's consideration of a $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation proposal in the coming weeks that will benefit millions of qualified Americans and residents in the country.
They said that is in addition to the immediate problem of benefits expiring. President Joe Biden thinks that the pandemic has revealed significant flaws in the country's unemployment insurance system that must be addressed immediately.
Biden Will Not Extend Federal Unemployment Benefit
In a letter to legislators on Thursday, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Labor Secretary Marty Walsh co-wrote that the temporary $300 benefit increase would expire on September 6th, as scheduled. The benefits increase was always meant to be temporary, as President Biden has said, and it is set to expire, according to a published article in AZCentral.
The increased benefits, intended to assist Americans who have lost employment as a result of the epidemic, were established last year as part of the federal CARES Act, which was signed by former President Donald Trump. The increase, which was initially $600 but was subsequently reduced in half, was extended twice, the most recent time to Sept. 6 as part of President Joe Biden's American Rescue Plan, which Congress approved in March.
The unemployment rate in the United States has fallen to 5.4 percent. Several Republican-led states have already opted out of the benefits, claiming that the additional money is a financial inducement for jobless people to return to work. Other pandemic-related advantages, such as longer benefit periods and coverage for those who would not normally qualify, will expire on Sept. 6.
