18 states committed to Trump’s expanded unemployment plan: report

Eighteen states have committed to President Trump’s plan for augmented temporary unemployment benefits, which would reduce the amount of individual payments and require states to contribute 25 percent of the payments.

An Associated Press survey found the majority of states remain uncommitted as of Tuesday. Thirty have reportedly said they are continuing to analyze the proposal, while two, Mississippi and South Dakota, have turned it down outright.

New Mexico was the first state to apply for the assistance, but the head of the state’s Department of Workforce Solutions said the logistics remain largely unclear.

“People need help and they need it right now,” Bill McCamley told the AP. “These dollars are so important, not only to the claimants, but because the claimants turn that money around, sometimes immediately to pay for things like rent, child care, utilities.”

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves (R), meanwhile, has turned the plan down, calling it too expensive. The second governor to reject it, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R), called it unnecessary.

“South Dakota’s economy, having never been shut down, has recovered nearly 80 percent of our job losses,” Noem, one of only a few governors never to impose lockdown measures, said in a statement on Friday. “South Dakota is open for business — that applies to our business owners and their employees.”

In contrast, California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), despite his frequent criticisms of the president, has announced the state will take the deal.

“As I say, don’t look a gift horse in the mouth,” he said last week, the AP noted.

An aid package passed by Congress earlier this year provided an additional $600 a week to those who have lost their jobs during the coronavirus pandemic. After the extension expired, President Trump announced an executive order that extended the benefit but at a reduced rate of $400 a week, with states contributing $100.