Top White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow told CNN that the administration expects states to cover part of the improved unemployment benefits that President Trump ordered through executive action on Saturday.
If states do not agree to participate and meet the financial requirement of paying 25% of the $ 400 amount, then the unemployed in those states will not receive any of the additional assistance.
Kudlow also acknowledged that some people may not get the much-improved benefit depending on where they live, he claimed that most people would receive $ 400 per week on top of normal unemployment insurance.
“We’re talking about averages here,” Kudlow told Dana Bash of CNN.
“Our estimates from the Treasury Department in terms of the CARES Act were that states do not have all the money that was allocated to them,” Kudlow said, referring to the sweeping stimulus package passed by Congress in March.
More details: Kudlow said the White House expects states to use what he described as “significant flooding” of previous incentive funds to pay for unemployment benefits.
Trump’s mandate requires states to provide $ 100 of the $ 400 enhanced benefit, with the federal government providing the remaining $ 300. Some experts have said that states can not use these funds for this unemployment benefit because it is a new program that is not authorized by Congress.
“We will repay funds from other areas” to pay for the federal portion of the benefit, Kudlow said. “Based on our estimates, the states will be able to provide the extra $ 100.”
Kudlow defends the president’s mandate to establish what the White House had described as an eviction moratorium, but which actually does not provide one.
“We are setting up a process, a mechanism,” Kudlow said of the order.
He said the executive action would establish a process that would allow the Department of Health and Human Services to mark areas of concern regarding Covid-19 distribution, and within those areas the moratorium could be applied more widely.
“If HHS declares emergencies, then evictions will be stopped,” he said. Kudlow noted that people living in federally funded single-family homes will remain protected.
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