After days of dangling the Coronavirus Relief in front of millions of unemployed Americans waiting for some form of financial relief. The soon to be former 45th president signed the Coronavirus Relief and Government Funding bill.
The estimated 12 million people in two key pandemic unemployment programs, who were facing their last payment this weekend, will now receive benefits for another 11 weeks. Plus, all those collecting unemployment will receive a $300 weekly federal boost through mid-March.
Being that the current president in office did not sign the bill on Saturday, those in the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance and the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation programs will likely not receive a payment this week. Also, the $300 federal enhancement may only last 10 weeks instead of 11 weeks for most folks. That’s because states can’t provide benefits for weeks that start before programs are authorized, but the legislation calls for the extra payments to end on March 14. The two pandemic unemployment programs will likely experience a break in payments of several weeks while state agencies reprogram their computers. The benefits are retroactive though.
The Covid-19 relief legislation was passed by Congress last Monday and was flown to Mar-a-Lago this past Thursday to await Trump’s signature. But after sitting on the sidelines during the negotiations, Trump emerged with an eleventh-hour complaint that a separate provision in the deal, which the President’s own White House helped broker, would only provide up to $600 in direct payments. Trump wanted to send out $2,000 checks. Trump also took umbrage with certain items that were actually from the omnibus spending package and which he had requested in his annual budget to Congress.
