Several states in the United States have already exhausted funds for the payment of $300 weekly unemployment benefits for the pandemic.
Negotiations on the new economic rescue continue to be stalled, as five months before the start of the meetings, Democrats and Republicans have not been able to reach a bipartisan agreement, so last August, the President of the American Union, Donald Trump, signed a series of executive orders with relief for the coronavirus in what was agreed in Congress.
One of Trump’s orders that had the greatest impact was the extension of unemployment benefits from $600 per week to $300 per week. According to the White House leader’s memos, states were free to add $100 over the $300 to raise the aid to $400.
Also, the aid extension was effective until next December 6, or until the money from the Department of Homeland Security’s Disaster Relief Fund was reduced by $25 billion, whichever came first.
In response, disaster experts quickly began predicting that this aid would only be enough to cover five weeks, which became almost a reality as the funds were only enough to cover the equivalent of six weeks of the grant.
How long have they been extended?
Now, almost two months after these orders were passed, unemployment benefit funds are no longer distributed in many of the states. So far, the states that have ended the distribution of aid are Texas, Utah, Iowa, Florida, California, Arizona, Alabama, Georgia, Montana, North Carolina, Tennessee, Louisiana, West Virginia, Oklahoma, Idaho, New Hampshire, Missouri.
That said, millions of Americans have begun to question whether and how long the benefit will be extended again. Well, at the moment there are no signs of a new extension of unemployment benefits, since it is estimated that this aid is part of the new economic rescue; in fact, the new Republican proposal of 1.8 billion includes the distribution of $400 a week as unemployment assistance.
For now, all that remains is to wait for the approval of a new stimulus package. It is worth mentioning that states that have not yet distributed the $300 in federal aid will have to send the payments in the next few weeks, either in weekly deposits or in a one-time payment of $1,800.