- On Monday, the Trump administration said most states could be in a position to implement a $ 400 supplement for unemployment benefits in two weeks.
- But experts and administrators cast doubt on that ambitious timeline, saying states are sitting for money.
- “It’s absolutely 100% impossible states will have this up in a few weeks,” said an unemployment expert.
- Visit the Business Insider website for more stories.
The Trump administration said on Monday that states could design and implement a new $ 400 unemployment supplement for unemployed Americans over the next two weeks. But experts and administrators are questioning that ambitious White House timeline.
Over the weekend, Trump signed an executive mandate to implement an impetus to unemployment benefits. The federal government’s $ 600 bulk bill expired at the end of July without replacement, and nearly 32 million Americans now rely on government benefits that normally pay only half of their lost wages.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Monday that “within the next week or two, most will be able to carry out the plan”. It calls on the states to give $ 100 of the benefit and the federal government to supplement $ 300.
But experts and administrators say setting up the system will take much longer than that because it has to be designed from the ground up. Some states in severe financial penalties may not be able to impose it at all.
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Many states are struggling with steep drops in tax revenues that have devastated their budgets, and some jobs are still overwhelmed by a backlog of unemployed claims.
“It’s absolutely 100% impossible states will have this up in a few weeks,” Michele Evermore, an unemployment expert at the National Employment Law Project, told Business Insider. “We do not even have guidance from [the Department of Labor] as FEMA. “
Evermore added: “State unemployment agencies need to figure out how to set up a fully parallel program.”
“This is not something any state can do quickly.”
The bipartisan National Governors Association said in a statement on Monday that it was “concerned” about the cost of the order on tight budgets.
“We appreciate the White House’s proposals to provide additional solutions to address economic challenges; however, we are concerned about the significant administrative burdens and costs that this latest action would place on states,” Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York and Republican Gov. That’s what Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas said.
They called on Congress to pass a comprehensive spending package that includes $ 500 billion in federal aid to states. On Sunday, Cuomo said the idea that states were able to bear 25% of the cost was “just ridiculous.”
Other drivers also worried about its implementation. Pennsylvania’s Tom Wolf said it will take time to assemble the system from assembly.
“This is not something that any state will be able to do quickly,” the Wolf administration said in a statement Monday.
Until now, only West Virginia has announced that it will implement the plan, and Ohio is moving forward with a limited version. Other states like Texas, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Nevada are still determining whether they can do it.
The White House has said states can apply for $ 150 billion in funds already provided under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act.
But a recent survey by the National Association of State Budget Officers found that 75% of the funds were already allocated, meaning that cash-strapped states trying to participate in the program may need to withdraw funding other priorities, such as contact locating or reopening schools.
The Department of Labor told states in an advisory email that they do not have to shoulder the costs associated with running the program, Bloomberg reported. Instead, they could count existing benefit payments for their cost sharing requirement.
As a result, bulk-up payments in some states could only amount to $ 300 per week.
