The Senate decided Thursday through early September, and House members had already left Washington. The departures only end every chance of a quick agreement on sending incentive checks to U.S. taxpayers, reviving streamed unemployment benefits and offering billions of dollars to schools, testing, childcare, small businesses, and state and local governments.
In the meantime, states are scrambling to find out how they are implementing Trump’s plan, with unemployed workers wondering if the money will arrive on time to prevent lasting financial damage.
Here’s what we know about the program and how it will work.
The benefit will be $ 300 for most workers, not $ 400.
When Trump announced the program, known as Lost Wages Assistance, he said it would add $ 400 to weekly unemployment checks.
But unlike the previous supplement, which was fully funded by the federal government, the program called for states to chip in a quarter of the cost. Executives from both major parties have called for spending billions of dollars when tax revenues have plummeted due to the economic downturn.
That week, the administration offered new guidance: Rather than adding $ 100 a week on top of existing unemployment benefits, states could count existing benefits for their share. In other words, unemployed workers would receive an extra $ 300, not $ 400.
1.2 million Americans filed unemployment benefits for the first time last week
The lowest paid workers do not qualify for the extra money.
Under guidance released by the Labor Department on Wednesday evening, the new program will be available to people who certify that they are “unemployed in part as a result of disruption caused by COVID-19” – but only if they are already eligible for at least $ 100 a week in unemployment benefits.
That provision would exclude roughly 1 million people, about three-quarters of their wives, according to Eliza Forsythe, an economist at the University of Illinois.
“Those are the people who need it the most,” Forsythe said. “They were first paid for a start, and then they are pronounced not to get this benefit, I think really cruel.”
It is not clear why the minimum $ 100 was set up. Trump recognized the benefit under a federal disaster program that requires states to cover 25% of all costs. But that rule applies to the general program, not to individual recipients. People who receive money under the Pandemic Assistance Program, for example, qualify for the $ 300 per week, even though that program is fully funded by the federal government.
It can take weeks for the money to start streaming.
Even for those who qualify, it can be weeks or even months before they start making some extra money. States must adapt to the new provisions if they are already overwhelmed by unemployment applications.
It has taken months for some states to begin paying benefits under the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance Program – which extended benefits to leave independent entrepreneurs, the self-employed and others out of the standard unemployment insurance system – in part because of archaic computer systems that are difficult to reprogram.
“We think it will take months,” said William G. Kunstman, a spokesman for the Hawaii Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, in an email. He cited the difficulty of programming the state’s computer system to meet federal requirements.
Even states with modern computer systems said it could take weeks to start the new addition. Bill McCamley, secretary of the New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions, said his state was one of the first to launch the pandemic assistance program, but that it still took nearly a month.
“Even in our system, which is very modern in the unemployment world, it will still take us time to do it right,” he said.
The money will not last long.
The program is retroactive until August 1, which means workers will eventually have to receive payments by mid-August.
But Trump’s executive action spends $ 44 billion on the program, enough to cover five or six weeks of benefits, assuming all states sign up. That means the program could almost end when it starts.
It is still possible that Congress could reinstate the original unemployment supplement – although probably at less than $ 600 a week – or pass on more money to replace Trump.
But every deal appears far away. Democrats in the House voted in May to extend the $ 600-a-week improvement by the end of the year as part of a $ 3.4 trillion incentive measure, but Senate Republicans have refused to pass that bill . The $ 1 trillion proposal passed by Republicans last month calls for an increase of $ 200 on average.
Employers are left in limbo.
For unemployed workers, the uncertainty about benefits means not knowing when they can pay off credit cards, or whether they can make rent Sept. 1. For those who are already struggling to get help from overwhelming unemployment agencies, the prospect of further delays is even more frustrating.
In March, David Moniz began working as a resident chef at Sur La Table, the kitchenware store in San Jose, California. His timing was terrible: After spending a day on the job, the store closed due to the virus, and he was furloughed.
It took Moniz, 29, weeks of calls to go to the California workplace and file an unemployment claim. Then, after a few weeks, its benefits stopped abruptly. His file is displayed as “pending” on the state’s website, and despite endless hours of calling, he is unable to get through to address the issue. He has not received a check since June 1.
Without any money coming in, Moniz has burned his savings and repaired debts. He has $ 28 left before he hits his credit limit, he said, and owes $ 200 in late fees and fines to his bank, Wells Fargo.
“Wells Fargo calls me more than anyone in my family does because of my account at the moment,” he said.
