- President Trump on Saturday signed four executive orders, including a $ 400-a-week unemployment benefit incentive.
- However, the mandate requires recipients to receive $ 100 per week in state benefits.
- That eligibility scheme could mean more than 1 million Americans are left out, according to a labor economist who spoke to CNBC.
- After states complained that they could not pay the new payments through the White House, the figure was reduced to $ 300.
- Visit the Business Insider website for more stories.
More than 1 million Americans could not qualify for President Donald Trump’s $ 300 weekly incentive of unemployment benefits of $ 300, according to CNBC, even after the amount was reduced by $ 100.
The executive action, signed on Saturday to replace the past $ 600 a week in federal payments, says recipients must already receive $ 100 a week in government benefits to be eligible for the additional funds.
Elizabeth Forsyth, a labor economist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, told CNBC that women, part-time workers, and other low-wage workers are likely to make up the majority of Americans who lack these additional benefits. Forsyth also said the 1 million figure was an estimate and the impact could be even higher.
Unemployed Americans who receive federal, instead of state, also do not qualify for unemployment benefits, Michele Evermore, a senior policy analyst at the National Employment Law Project, told CNBC.
In July, 13 million people were enrolled in the Pandemic Relief Program, according to the Department of Labor. Since that program is federally funded, it does not count toward Trump’s $ 100 per week state minimum. More than 16 million Americans were out of work in July, according to the latest monthly employment report.
President Trump’s executive action on Saturday comes as Congress’ efforts to negotiate another economic relief package halt. In recent weeks, Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill have clashed over the impetus for federal unemployment benefits. Spokeswoman Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, insisted on ongoing payouts of $ 600 a week, but Republicans opposed the discouragement of some workers to return to their jobs. The parties also remain divided on funding for tests and tracks, school safety, and housing safety.
“My administration will provide immediate and vital relief to Americans who are struggling in this difficult time,” Trump told a news conference Saturday at his private golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey.
But since the announcement, problems have plagued the plan. Even for those who qualify, it is unlikely that they will see a whole $ 400 their way soon.
On Tuesday, a top White House official said they would “adjust” the plan to cut the benefit from $ 400 to $ 300 a week. Originally, the executive order stated that 25% of the bills account for the impulse. But states like Pennsylvania told Kentucky they could not pay them, forcing the White House to reduce benefits.
In addition, timing is mentioned in question. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the plan could be implemented “within the next week or two.” But even administrators and experts say that implementing the initiative will take much longer because they are building a benefit system from the ground up.
“It’s absolutely 100% impossible states will have this up in a few weeks,” Evermore, the lawyer for the National Employment Law Project, told Business Insider in a preliminary interview.
Read the full report on CNBC.com.
