Washington D.C. - President Donald Trump announced a short-term alternative meant to replace the expired $600-a-week emergency federal supplement. He also mentioned that he will sidestep a congressional stalemate delivering the weekly extra $400 benefit to tens of millions of unemployed Americans.
As the Lost Wages Assistance plan gives out more details as it emerged, more problems arose as well especially regarding the source of such fund and how to deliver it to the hands of those who need it.
But what's clearer right now is that the weekly supplement will be $300 instead of $400. The state to first implement it and started paying out is the state of Arizona.
Additional $300 a week offered to unemployed workers
The supplement will be funded by money coming from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which is usually used in providing relief goods during a disaster. While the additional $100 will be supplied by recipients' respective states but because of the experienced pandemic, they are struggling to meet other expenses as well. Top concerns for states were the sinking tax revenues at the high cost of materials needed to curb the spread of the COVID-19, Chicago Tribune reported.
According to FEMA, the state of Montana chose the $400 option. In order to qualify for the extra federal funds, the person should be qualified to receive at least $100 in unemployment benefits weekly coming from the federal pandemic assistance program or through their regular state program.
The action of Trump came after the failure of Republicans and Democrats to work out a deal regarding the supplemental benefits before the congressional recess in August. While Republicans pushed a small chunk of supplement with only $200 per week on their initial proposal as they cited that bigger sums will discourage people to return to their work, Democrats steadfastly supported the restart of the $600 weekly supplement that expired a month ago.
Delay on benefits become widespread
Just like processing the regular federal pandemic jobless benefits and state unemployment insurance, each state supposedly will be administering the new supplement.
According to Fox Business, when state unemployment systems were overwhelmed with claims during spring, weeks of delays were the problem as it even extended to months due to the update that is needed by the computers used aside from reprogramming it and training staff members.
As of the moment, states are working on the new process of the program while keeping the existing benefits flowing, and about 1.1 million new claims were recently reported for state jobless benefits.
Assistant secretary for employment and training at the Labor Department, John P. Pallasch shared on a conference call with reporters on Thursday that some states need up to six weeks to figure out how to run the program properly.
As of Saturday, 23 states had their fund approval which includes: Rhode Island, Arizona, Alabama, California, Colorado, Indiana, Iowa, Idaho, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, North Carolina, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, New Mexico, and Vermont.
Related article: $300 Unemployment Benefit: Who Will Get It and When?
