Who Would Be Eligible For Aid
Under the CARES Act, anyone who was eligible for weekly unemployment benefits or Congress emergency unemployment compensation programs was receiving an extra $600 weekly check. This new system would be more scaled.
Under the order, individuals are only eligible to receive whats being called lost wages assistance if theyre eligible for at least $100 per week in weekly unemployment aid. That includes all of the additional programs created under the CARES Act, as well as states individual programs for private-sector employees, federal workers and ex-service members.
Although every state is different, most determine your weekly benefit amount on what you were paid during a specific base period. And while it might not seem possible, most states minimum weekly unemployment payments are below $100, with Hawaiis weekly payments coming in at a mere $5, compared with Louisiana , North Carolina , Nevada , Delaware and West Virginia , among others, according to data from the Department of Labor.
Though one estimate suggests only about 6 percent of all regular UI recipients are earning less than $100 per week in their state benefits, it would still come as a detriment to those individuals deemed ineligible, who are likely low-income earners, gig economy or self-employed individuals, as well as those who are still working, just at a reduced schedule.
President Donald Trump Signed A Series Of Executive Orders That Include The Extension Of Enhanced Unemployment Benefits Amid The Coronavirus Pandemic
Amid an impasse in negotiations over the next coronavirus stimulus bill in the United States, President Donald Trump last Saturday signed a series of executive orders vowing to provide further economic relief to Americans during the pandemic, with the extension of enhanced unemployment benefits among the measures.
What Happens If My State Cant Provide Funding
This is one of the biggest questions regarding Trumps directive, which states that the federal government will provide $300 in additional aid and the states will contribute another $100.
Some governors have already said the $100 per-person contribution is beyond reach, with Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York calling it impossible. Thats because many states are already financially strapped due to a loss of tax revenue after the coronavirus pandemic shuttered the economy.
Trumps order specifies that the state funding would come from the $150 billion Coronavirus Relief Fund , but some states have already spent or earmarked that money.
Executive Orders cant replace legislative actions.States cant pay 25% of unemployment costs.Its simply impossible.
Andrew Cuomo
For many states, the remaining funds in the CRF would be sufficient to pay the state share of benefits, Goldman analysts wrote in a research note. However, some states have already used most or, in the case of California, all of their CRF allocation, which would leave them to fund the benefit from other state resources.
States have another option, according to a Sunday memo from the Department of Labor viewed by CBS MoneyWatch. They can count their existing unemployment insurance weekly benefit payments from state funds toward their $100 contribution, the memo said.
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$300 Bonus Unemployment Checks: How Many Are Left What You Should Know
The extra federal unemployment insurance payments are set to expire soon, but some recipients may need to pay taxes on the money.
More federal unemployment checks are still coming.
Editors’ note: On Thursday, President Joe Biden signed his American Rescue Plan that will extend unemployment bonus checks to Sept. 6. This article refers to the payments established in the relief package passed in December. We refer you to the article about the unemployment provisions in the American Rescue Plan for the latest information.
March 14 will be the last day for bonus unemployment checks unless President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief plan gets through Congress before. It already passed the House of Representatives and is currently in the Senate where the provisions such as a third stimulus check, Child Tax Credit and the eviction moratorium are being debated on.
Friday saw some changes to the extension of unemployment benefits. The House bill called for $400 bonus checks to last until the end of August, however, because the Senate will be adjourned during that period, there was a plan to extend the payments at a lower amount. Instead of $400, the new plan would drop the bonus checks to $300 and have them expire on Sept. 6. This plan has yet to be passed by the Senate and could still change before it’s added to the relief bill.
New $400 Weekly Federal Unemployment Benefits Look Likelyheres When They May Go Out
More than 18 million Americans are now collecting unemployment benefits, including $300 weekly supplemental unemployment payments that began rolling out in January.
Those supplemental federal benefits are set to expire in mid-March. But when they do, those who are still collecting unemployment may actually see their benefits climb.
On Friday, the House of Representatives released the text of the 591-page American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. Among its key provisions: an increase in those supplemental weekly jobless benefits to $400 a week, extended until August 29.
The House is expected take up the legislation next week, with Senate action to follow. How likely is it that Congress will pass the additional unemployment benefits? And if the legislation passes, will it come in time to avoid an interruption in federal benefits? Heres an overview of where the proposals stand.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer says the Senate’s on track to pass additional stimulus relief … before federal unemployment benefits expire in March.
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When Do Benefits Begin
According to the memorandum, the benefits begin the week ending August 1, 2020. Thus, benefits would be retroactive to that date. Still, many are wondering when they will begin to receive the actual payments.
In the press briefing yesterday, Mr. Trump was asked about a timetable as to when the unemployed can expect to start receiving these benefits. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who attended the press briefing, responding saying, “within the next week or two, most of the states will be able to execute.” States must make changes to their unemployment insurance systems, and this takes time.
What Is Mixed Earner Unemployment Compensation And Do I Qualify
The original CARES Act had unemployed workers either get their benefits from the state through unemployment insurance or through a federal program called Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, or PUA. Someone who was self-employed or who worked as a gig worker, freelancer or contractor who doesn’t typically receive unemployment benefits after being laid off could receive PUA instead.
In the language of the new bill, however, someone who earned a combination of income from a traditional job and employment as a contractor would either receive the unemployment insurance payment or the PUA, but not a combination of both.
With Mixed Earner Unemployment Compensation, a person who made more money from self-employment or a contracting job — that requires a 1099 form — could receive an extra $100 a week. For example, let’s say you made $50,000 in 2019, which was split with $30,000 coming from a contractor job and $20,000 from a part-time job at a company. If you were laid off, the state unemployment office would calculate whether you’d receive benefits for the $30,000 via PUA or $20,000 via unemployment insurance but not a combination of the two.
Though someone who works a traditional job and makes $50,000 a year in New York would receive $480 a week from unemployment insurance, by having a mix of the two, you’d get the greater of the two different amounts, which would be the PUA of $288 a week rather than the $280 from unemployment.
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Are Unemployment Benefits Retroactive
Yes. Once their state is set up, people already receiving benefits will see the supplemental aid come through with their regular state payments, retroactive to Aug. 1, the FEMA guidance says. States that began reconfiguring their systems on Aug. 8 could start administering payments by Aug. 29, according to the Department of Labor.
Experts worry about how long it could take. Many states already lacked the technology to deal with the massive wave of layoffs and furloughs in the spring, causing issues for their computer systems.
In Kentucky, Beshear said that those receiving benefits for the weeks of July 26 to Aug. 15 will be eligible to receive the additional $400, but said that people likely won’t start receiving the money until early September.
A Backdrop Of Geographic And Racial Barriers To Benefit Access
The on-again, off-again nature of UI benefits during the pandemic is exacerbating economic instability resulting from the geographic differences in unemployment and racial barriers workers face in accessing benefits. States use pandemic unemployment programs at different rates, as shown by Map 2, which displays the number of workers relying on pandemic aid as a share of the state workforce. The usage of pandemic benefits is greatest in states such as New York, Massachusetts, Hawaii, California, and Oregon, which each have more than 9 percent of the workforce receiving benefits these states have both a high unemployment rate and traditionally rank among the top states in the share of workers collecting jobless benefits. In contrast, benefit penetration is lowest among Southeastern and Southwestern states, whichnot coincidentally given the value that public policy places on workers of coloralso consistently have among the largest share of Black and Latinx workers, including Mississippi, where 69 percent of the claimant population is Black and only 3.2 percent of the workforce will be receiving pandemic unemployment aid in March, and Arizona, where 33 percent of the claimant population is Latinx and only 3.48 percent of the workforce will be able to gain pandemic aid.23 Along these lines, a recent survey of workers during the pandemic found that 34 percent of Black workers and 26 percent of Latinx workers were denied benefits, compared to 14 percent of white applicants.24
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Senate Will Debate Provisions Of The Stimulus Package
The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 is one of Bidens top priorities and Democrats have been working fast to pass the legislation through Congress. In order to smooth the path forward they are using budgetary reconciliation whereby they can pass it with a simple majority rather than the 60 votes normally required by Senate rules. With that chamber evenly split 50-50 between the Democratic and Republican caucuses, Democrats cannot afford to have a member or ally vote against it.
Besides the proposal to raise the minimum wage, moderate democrats have expressed concerns about the how the $350 billion for state and local governments in the legislation will be used. Democratic lawmakers fear that some states could cut taxes rather than spend the money on needs related to the covid-19 pandemic once the money is handed out.
These senators would like to see the funding better spent on infrastructure projects to boost the economy more directly. Biden met with a group of centrist senators to discuss the relief bill on Monday.
WH via pool on President Biden’s virtual mtg with 9 Democratic Senators virtually today includ Majority Whip Durbin:”The group had a good discussion & was united in the goal of quickly passing a significant package that reflects the scope of the challenges our country is facing.”
Craig Caplan
Vp Harris Casts Deciding Vote Allowing Senate To Begin Debating Covid
The Senate began formal consideration of the $1.9-trillion COVID relief measure Thursday, a day after Senate leaders agreed to narrow by several million people which Americans will receive $1,400 stimulus checks. The concession was intended to appease moderate Democrats worried that too many high-wage earners would receive the payments.
In exchange, some senators had pushed to extend unemployment benefits for the full six months that President Biden initially requested, rather than the five months approved by the House. But the change did not make it into the final version of the bill, according to a Democratic aide. The bill provides a $400 weekly federal subsidy on top of state benefits.
Congress traditionally breaks for the month of August, and some lawmakers worried ending the benefits in August might lead to a gap before Congress can act again.
Read the full story on LATimes.com.
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Trump Executive Orders May Face Legal Challenges
How quickly Americans can actually start to claim their additional $400 a week remains to be seen, however. According to the US Constitution, Congress has control over how to spend federal government funds, not the president, so the implementation of the measure could well find itself delayed by legal challenges.
In a news conference Trump said he was prepared for legal action, : “You always get sued. Everything you do you get sued. But people feel that we can do it.”
Echoing the words of Republican Senator Ben Sasse, Pelosi branded Trump’s executive orders as “unconstitutional slop” in an interview with Fox News Sunday. However, US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin – who was also involved in the failed relief-bill negotiations – warned Democrats against mounting a legal challenge.
“Weve cleared with the office of legal counsel all these actions,” Mnuchin told Fox News Sunday. “If the Democrats want to challenge us in court and hold up unemployment benefits to those hardworking Americans that are out of a job because of Covid, theyre going to have a lot of explaining to do.”
Meanwhile, Forbes also notes that states may take time to get their systems organized to start paying the $100 that Trumps plan calls on them to contribute – if they can afford it at all.
When Will I Get My $400 Unemployment Benefits
The memorandum says that unemployment benefits will be made available “to eligible claimants from the week of unemployment ending August 1, 2020.” However, there can be hurdles that might stop the actions from being carried out.
Congress can raise a bill, which is eventually made into law, to try to block the orders by the President, according to the USA.gov website. However, the President can also veto the bill, which would mean Congress would have to vote to overturn it. This means that there could be a potential delay in benefits being paid.
According to the Committee for Responsible Federal Budgeting, as of June 30, 2020, around 25 percent of State CRF funds had been spent.
“We estimate that the program would have sufficient funding for five weeks of benefits ,” says the organization in a blog post. “Because the money was already appropriated to the DRF, some by the CARES Act and some by previous legislation, this money could have been spent already so choosing it to spend on unemployment will have no additional deficit impact.”
Economist and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, Gary Burtless, believes that recipients of unemployment insurance will have to rely on the standard amount for a while.
“President Trump’s plan for unemployment insurance is a very complicated and possibly unconstitutional program of federal assistance that will take a while to implement,” Burtless told Newsweek.
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Lawmakers Expected To Push For September Extension
Lawmakers, including Sen. Ron Wyden who will write the Senate version of the bill, have already expressed intentions to preserve the six months of extended unemployment benefits until the end of September.
Lawmakers appear to be set with pushing forward a $400 weekly boost, despite previous calls to reinstate CARES Act’s original $600 weekly enhancement a sum intended to help workers recover 100% of wages lost during the pandemic. Biden’s campaign website said he would “work with Congress to extend the boosted unemployment benefits for however long this crisis lasts.”
House Democrats kicked off discussions on the latest proposal Wednesday and are expected to continue through Friday.
Unemployment Soars In Us Amid Pandemic
Unemployment has rocketed in the US during the coronavirus pandemic. The jobless rate reached as high as 14.7% in April, and although it has since fallen to 10.2%, this figure remains nearly 7% higher than Februarys 3.5%. Per the Economic Policy Institute, moreover, it is worse than the nadir of the Great Recession, which saw unemployment reach 10.0% in 2009.
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How Will The New Ui System Work
The presidents executive order tees up a jointly funded federal-state payout and a complicated one at that. With the new program, the federal government will pay for $300 of that weekly check, while $100 would be covered by states.
For states portion, theyre being directed to tap into a Coronavirus Relief Fund established through the CARES Act, which currently has about $80 billion in funds remaining. To fund the federal portion, Trump is shifting over $44 billion worth of funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency originally reserved for natural disasters such as tornadoes, wildfires and hurricanes. To that end, it has some experts wondering whether the extra aid under Trumps executive order can be even called unemployment insurance at all.
Its a FEMA benefit, says Michele Evermore, senior policy analyst at the National Employment Law Project who specializes in UI. Its totally outside the unemployment insurance system.
Why Did Benefits End Early In So Many States
Citing labor shortages in the spring, 26 state governors claimed pandemic-related unemployment benefits were producing limited incentives for workers to take jobs. Many economists and analysts disagreed, highlighting several factors that prevented people from finding suitable work, including low wages, lack of health care, inadequate child care and fear of contracting COVID-19.
With unemployment claims still fluctuating as the economy struggles to return to pre-pandemic “normalcy,” reports are showing that the early cancellation of the federal programs had little impact on labor markets. A recent JP Morgan Chase Institute study confirmed that states that ended supplemental unemployment insurance programs during the summer saw a limited impact on job growth.
According to an August report by the Century Foundation’s Andrew Stettner, “Politics, not economics, drove the attack on unemployment insurance.” The states that cut off the enhanced benefits before the federal expiration were mostly Republican-led.
Arkansas, Indiana and Maryland were slated to cut off benefits early, but successful lawsuits forced those states to preserve the federal coverage, at least temporarily. In issuing their rulings, judges noted that the ending of benefits made it harder for the unemployed to afford basic needs. Lawsuits were also filed against state governors elsewhere, which were either denied by judges or are still held up in the courts.
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