The additional $300 a week federal unemployment benefit activated by President Donald Trump’s executive order is being approve state-by-state for an initial period of three weeks, CNBC reported citing a federal document by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The money, part of mitigation efforts to blunt the impact of the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, was authorized in an Aug. 8 Trump decree following the July 31 expiration of the previous supplemental unemployment benefit authorized by Congress. It is being disbursed through FEMA under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance – or “Stafford” Act.
States must apply to receive the benefit but will only be approved at the outset for three weeks.
“Approved grant applicants will receive an initial obligation of three weeks of needed funding,” the FEMA “Frequent Asked Questions” document states. “Additional disbursements will be made on a weekly basis in order to ensure that funding remains available for the states who apply for the grant assistance.”
Arizona, Iowa, Louisiana, and New Mexico already have been approved for the assistance, FEMA said in a release Saturday, while other states such as Colorado have applied.
CNBC quoted Michele Evermore, a senior policy analyst at the liberal National Employment Law Project think tank, as saying the policy guarantees a maximum of three weeks. She also called the policy is “unfair” since some states will apply and others won’t.
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