New York To Apply For $300 Weekly Federal Jobless Payment Program

NEW YORK, NY — New York will apply for a federal program that will send an additional $300 in federal money to residents who lost their jobs due to the coronavirus pandemic.

President Donald Trump authorized federal emergency officials to spend up to $44 billion in disaster relief money amid Congressional inaction on another massive stimulus package. In an Aug. 8 memo, Trump authorized the Federal Emergency Management Agency to use its Disaster Relief Fund to supplement unemployment benefits for people who lost their jobs due to the pandemic.

"Because many of the relief programs created by the Congress have expired or will shortly expire, my Administration and the Republican leadership in the United States Senate have proposed multiple options to continue to provide needed relief to Americans," the White House memo said.

Congress previously passed a $600 weekly benefit for jobless Americans that was in place for about four months. The new order called for less money and a shorter duration.

Under the directive, state governors can dole out an extra $400 a week to people who are jobless. The payments could last about four to five weeks, or as few as three weeks if all states applied, the agency said.

But the memo said the federal government would only cover $300; the state would be on the hook for the remaining $100.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo — who has repeatedly decried that state and local governments are broke and already facing significant possible cuts due to pandemic-related losses in tax revenue — balked.

At a news conference with reporters following the memo's release, Cuomo said Trump made it "impossible on the state," and could cost cash-strapped New York $4 billion.

"The concept of saying to states 'You pay 25 percent of unemployment insurance' is just laughable,” Cuomo said at the time.

Cuomo also questioned the legality of bypassing Congress. Fewer than 25 percent of states were approved for the program last week, The New York Times reported. New York, along with Florida and Texas, sought further guidance on the program's rules before applying.

But on Friday, the governor's budget director Robert Mujica said the federal government walked back those restrictions. The Cuomo administration had a change of heart, and would join 14 other states in applying for the program. States have until Sept. 10 to apply.

"Now that the federal government has blinked and will no longer make states provide funding they do not have, New York State will apply for the Lost Wages Assistance program," Mujica said.

He added that Cuomo's administration will do everything it can to support New Yorkers who lost their jobs.

"But make no mistake, this does not absolve Washington from doing its job, and they must pass a comprehensive aid package that provides a stable extension of unemployment benefits, repeals the SALT cap and supports local and state governments. Anything else would simply be unacceptable," Mujica said.

Under the program, states will have to reconfigure their unemployment systems to dole out the extra $300 a week. Experts said that could take weeks to install, if not months. States that reconfigured their system can begin distributing the extra cash as early as Aug. 29, the Department of Labor said.

Trump's order also created a so-called "payroll tax holiday" through the end of the year, provided relief for student debt and called for pausing evictions for homeowners with federally-backed mortgages.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday said unemployment rates fell last month in 30 states, increased in nine states, and were the same in 11 states and the District of Columbia. All 50 states and Washington, D.C. saw higher jobless rates compared to the same period in 2019.

The national unemployment rate fell 0.9 percentage points in July to 10.2 percent, but was 6.5 points higher than July 2019.

But the coronavirus crisis hit New York's economy harder than other states. The largest year-over-year unemployment rate increases were seen in Massachusetts and New York at 13.2 and 12 percentage point increases, respectively. Just three other states saw increases of at least 10 percentage points.