White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said Tuesday that the administration will remove a requirement that states kick in 25% of the $300-a-week emergency unemployment benefits boost that President Trump is trying to implement without Congress.
“We modified slightly the mechanics of the deal,” Kudlow said in an appearance on Fox News.
“The way we’re leaving it now is, any state who put in $100 before for unemployment benefits, and every state did, they will then qualify for the extra $300,” Kudlow said.
Kudlow said that the $300-a-week in federal unemployment benefits from Trump’s executive action, combined with the median unemployment benefits from states, which is $400 a week, will mean each unemployed person receives around $700 a week.
State governments complained over the past few days that they would likely struggle with covering the 25% of funds that President Trump’s unemployment benefits executive action from Saturday mandated.
“This is not something that any state will be able to do quickly,” Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration said Tuesday about Trump’s unemployment benefit program stipulations.
Kudlow said he believes all 50 states should be able to qualify for the new benefit, retroactive to Aug. 1.
Trump signed a combination of an executive order and memorandums on Saturday meant to send financial relief to unemployed workers, protect people from evictions, offer student loan relief, and defer payroll tax payments.
