Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
$300 Unemployment Boost Ends After This Week
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 5 years ago on
September 11, 2020

Share

The temporary $300-a-week unemployment insurance boost implemented by President Donald Trump is about to end, with no extension in sight.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency said Thursday in an email to The Associated Press that it has distributed $30 billion of the $44 billion it had set aside for the benefit. The agency said the fund was enough to cover six weeks of additional jobless aid starting Aug. 1, so unemployed workers won’t receive any more after this week.

Trump created the program after a more generous $600-a-week benefit adopted by Congress expired. The federal government initially did not have an estimate of how long the money would last, but six weeks is in line with what experts expected.

FEMA emphasized that all eligible recipients will get the $300 boost to cover six weeks, a period that ended Sept. 5.

Some states had technical obstacles that have delayed the payments, and the federal government is still in the process of approving other states’ plans to distribute the money. Eligible workers who have not yet received the $300-a-week supplement or have received less than six weeks’ worth, will receive payments for their full share, according to FEMA. After that, the fund will be dry.

The program was designed to leave money to deal with natural disasters, such as the wildfires now sweeping the West, even after the unemployment boost was gone.

Trump created the program after a more generous $600-a-week benefit adopted by Congress expired. The federal government initially did not have an estimate of how long the money would last, but six weeks is in line with what experts expected.

The Extra Weekly Payments Came With a Significant String Attached

The Trump administration and congressional Republicans and Democrats have been unable to agree on a new coronavirus relief package that would include an extension of the unemployment supplement.

Recipients have said the extra jolt of money from the federal government kept them afloat as the economy cratered amid stay-at-home orders and business closings. On Thursday, the government reported that 13.4 million Americans continue to receive state unemployment benefits, although not all of them are receiving the additional $300.

The extra weekly payments came with a significant string attached: It was available only to people receiving at least $100 a week in other unemployment insurance benefits. That cut out hundreds of thousands of low-wage earners, people who had jobs for short periods and gig workers.

One of them is Philip Tuley of Clearlake Oaks, California.

His unemployment benefits come to $65 a week, or $260 a month. It was so low because Tuley, 63, had previously taken a year off after spending two decades as an assistant educator at a school district in rural Northern California. He had been substituting recently and was about to return to his district full time when the pandemic struck.

His unemployment benefit was so small because it was based on his average earnings over a two-year period. He said he’s been turned away from a local food bank because its shelves were bare.

Tuley said Trump’s order is to blame for the predicament he and other low-wage workers are in.

A Handful of States Kicked in an Additional $100 per Person To Enhance the Payment

“To have him choose that people who didn’t get $100 were excluded, that’s just — forgive me — it seems sheer evil,” Tuley said.

A handful of states kicked in an additional $100 per person to enhance the payment. South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, a Republican, was the lone governor to decline the additional weekly benefit, according to an AP tally of the states.

A handful of states kicked in an additional $100 per person to enhance the payment. South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, a Republican, was the lone governor to decline the additional weekly benefit, according to an AP tally of the states.

FEMA’s announcement came as Democrats in the U.S. Senate scuttled a scaled-back GOP coronavirus aid plan, arguing that it was too stingy. That bill includes continuing a $300 weekly unemployment supplement until late December.

Paula Ridenti, 33, who lives in Waltham, Massachusetts, gets $202 a week in regular unemployment benefits since she stopped working at a grocery store in March when her children’s schools closed, so the $600 supplement was a major help.

But she’s still waiting for her checks with the $300 boost. She should get that money eventually, but in the meantime she has been trying to figure out how to make do on an income that adds up to just about half her monthly $1,600 rent.

“I feel like the two political parties should get together and put aside their differences for the sake of saving their country,” she said.

DON'T MISS

Newly Released JFK Files Reveal More About CIA but Don’t Yet Point to Conspiracies

DON'T MISS

Zelenskyy and Putin Have Agreed to a Limited Ceasefire

DON'T MISS

Trump to Order a Plan to Shut Down the US Education Department

DON'T MISS

Feds Search for Longtime LA Gang Leader Suspected of Murder and Human Trafficking

DON'T MISS

Jury Finds Greenpeace Liable for Hundreds of Millions in Damages

DON'T MISS

California’s Wine Industry Leery of Tariffs, but Some Growers Hope They Help

DON'T MISS

Butler Does It All as Warriors Don’t Need Curry to Clip Bucks

DON'T MISS

What Is This Continued Carnage in Gaza Achieving?

DON'T MISS

Brothers of Laken Riley’s Killer to Be Deported After Pleading Guilty to Fake Green Cards

DON'T MISS

Bank Seeks $105 Million, Foreclosure on Some of John Vidovich’s Ag Properties

UP NEXT

NASA Astronauts Return to Earth After 9 Months Stuck in Space

UP NEXT

Israeli Strikes Across Gaza Kill More Than 400 and Shatter Ceasefire With Hamas

UP NEXT

Visalia Motorcyclist Injured in Early Morning Crash. Police Believe Alcohol Involved.

UP NEXT

Trump Claims Biden’s Pardons Were Signed Without His Knowledge Using Autopen

UP NEXT

Niche Subreddits Shape Pop Culture – the Truth Everyone’s Missing

UP NEXT

Trump Administration Deports Hundreds of Immigrants Against Judge Orders

UP NEXT

JD Vance Is Booed at a Kennedy Center Concert After Trump’s Takeover

UP NEXT

Khalil Sues Columbia and Lawmakers to Keep Activists’ Names Secret

UP NEXT

Democratic Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva Dies From Complications From Cancer Treatment

UP NEXT

Tesla Owners Struggle with Brand Loyalty Amid Musk’s DOGE Controversies

Feds Search for Longtime LA Gang Leader Suspected of Murder and Human Trafficking

6 hours ago

Jury Finds Greenpeace Liable for Hundreds of Millions in Damages

7 hours ago

California’s Wine Industry Leery of Tariffs, but Some Growers Hope They Help

7 hours ago

Butler Does It All as Warriors Don’t Need Curry to Clip Bucks

7 hours ago

What Is This Continued Carnage in Gaza Achieving?

7 hours ago

Brothers of Laken Riley’s Killer to Be Deported After Pleading Guilty to Fake Green Cards

7 hours ago

Bank Seeks $105 Million, Foreclosure on Some of John Vidovich’s Ag Properties

8 hours ago

Newsom’s New CA Homelessness Plan Leaves Out Some Important Details

9 hours ago

Westlands’ New Science Adviser Brings Deep Knowledge of Fish

10 hours ago

Will Vang Win Fresno Council Seat Outright? It Could Go Down to the Wire

10 hours ago

Newly Released JFK Files Reveal More About CIA but Don’t Yet Point to Conspiracies

DALLAS — Newly released documents related to President John F. Kennedy’s assassination in 1963 gave curious readers more details Wedne...

6 hours ago

6 hours ago

Newly Released JFK Files Reveal More About CIA but Don’t Yet Point to Conspiracies

6 hours ago

Zelenskyy and Putin Have Agreed to a Limited Ceasefire

Education Secretary Linda McMahon arrives before President Donald Trump addresses a joint session of Congress at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, March 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
6 hours ago

Trump to Order a Plan to Shut Down the US Education Department

6 hours ago

Feds Search for Longtime LA Gang Leader Suspected of Murder and Human Trafficking

A jury ruled in favor of Energy Transfer, awarding damages against Greenpeace, which argued the lawsuit threatened free speech rights. (Shutterstock)
7 hours ago

Jury Finds Greenpeace Liable for Hundreds of Millions in Damages

7 hours ago

California’s Wine Industry Leery of Tariffs, but Some Growers Hope They Help

7 hours ago

Butler Does It All as Warriors Don’t Need Curry to Clip Bucks

7 hours ago

What Is This Continued Carnage in Gaza Achieving?

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend