President Donald Trump says an he signed on Saturday funds a $400 weekly supplement to unemployment benefits. But it likely won't be as helpful as it seems.
The actual amount the feds will pay is $300, just half of the amount given before the Congressional aid lapsed last month. States have to chip in the rest using earlier stimulus funds from the federal government, but many states have already allocated that money as the pandemic's economic fallout drains state coffers.
, Nevada, New Mexico and Wyoming are expecting more than a 20% budget reduction in the next fiscal year.
Liz McNichol is a senior fellow with the progressive nonprofit Center for Budget and Policy Priorities. She says it's time for Congress to step up with more aid.
"If states don't get substantial fiscal aid now, they're going to cut budgets, they're going to cut school funding, they're going to cut healthcare funding," which are needed during the pandemic, McNichol said.
McNichol added that if those states don鈥檛 get direct help, they could even be contributing to more unemployment, including a million that鈥檝e already faced that challenge.
"And that more than a million people who have been furloughed or laid off in just these last four months is more than were laid off in the entire span of the great recession,鈥� she said.
Trump鈥檚 executive order likely won鈥檛 be able to help the unemployed for long, either. It鈥檚 drawing from $44 billion of emergency management funds, which would go fast if all of the unemployed people in July were to get the extra $300 a week.
This story was produced by the Mountain West 暗黑爆料 Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, the O'Connor Center for the Rocky Mountain West in Montana, KUNC in Colorado, KUNM in New Mexico, with support from affiliate stations across the region. Funding for the Mountain West 暗黑爆料 Bureau is provided in part by the .
Copyright 2020 Boise State Public Radio 暗黑爆料. To see more, visit . 9(MDAxNDQ2NDAxMDEyNzU2NzM2ODA3ZGI1ZA001))
