- The Trump administration said it would reduce its unemployment benefit to $ 300 after drawing criticism from states that said they could not give their share.
- A White House official said on Tuesday that an unemployment relief plan requiring states to kick in 25% of a $ 400 benefit was “adapted” to address their concerns.
- The move means unemployed people will cut their enhanced benefits to $ 300, half of the federal benefit that expired at the end of July.
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The Trump administration said on Tuesday it would reduce its unemployment benefit incentive to $ 300 from $ 400 after triggering blowbacks from states with cash saying they could not pay their share.
President Donald Trump on Saturday signed a memorandum to implement a $ 400 supplement in favor of stateless unemployment that would end by December 6th. States would provide 25% of the cost foot and $ 100, while the federal government would collect the rest.
But government officials from both parties are criticizing the possibility of the measure, The Washington Post reported on Monday.
Larry Kudlow, the director of the White House National Economic Council, told Fox News on Tuesday that states should not raise $ 100 for eligible residents to implement the program imposed by the Trump administration.
“We’ve changed the mechanics of the deal a bit,” Kudlow said.
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That means the increased benefits for unemployed Americans would be $ 300, half the federal benefit of $ 600 that was from late March to late July.
States aggravate severe budget deficits due to pandemic. And governors have urged Congress to pass a spending package of at least $ 500 billion in federal aid to state and local governments to increase its finances.
Many executives expressed concern about designing another benefit system from the ground up.
“This is not something that any state will be able to do quickly,” the Pennsylvania Gov. administration said. Tom Wolf in a statement Monday.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat, told The Post that the Trump administration’s plan “was not effective in its current form” and estimated his price tag at $ 1.5 billion.
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Other state leaders said they had already allocated money and that existing funds were bad. Arkansas Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson told The Post that the state had saved $ 200 million in federal funding in case the outbreak in the coming months got worse. “We would have to adjust that completely,” he said.
Several unemployment agencies are awaiting guidance from the federal government before attempting to proceed with the order. Experts have said that if implemented, the program would only last about five to six weeks.
Meanwhile, stimulus negotiations between top Congress Democrats and the White House broke down last week over fierce agreements on state support and improved unemployment insurance. Both sides are deadlock; a deal does not appear difficult.
About 32 million Americans use unemployment benefits, which typically pay half of their lost wages.
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