Unemployment benefits included in a new COVID-19 relief package will not lapse this week, as anticipated, despite President TrumpDonald TrumpTrump calls for end to ‘religious persecution worldwide’ on 850th anniversary of Thomas Becket’s death Michael Cohen interview sparks questions after he mentions prison friends ‘Tony Meatballs and Big Minty’ Ocasio-Cortez rails against both Democrats and Republicans who opposed ,000 direct payments MORE‘s delay in signing the bill, the Labor Department confirmed Tuesday.
“As states are implementing these new provisions as quickly as possible, the Department does not anticipate that eligible claimants will miss a week of benefits due to the timing of the law’s enactment,” a department spokesman told The Hill.
Two key emergency unemployment programs, Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) and Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC), expired on Saturday, a day before Trump signed a $900 billion COVID relief bill into law.
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Trump delayed signing the bill, which passed in Congress last Monday, complaining that $600 stimulus checks were not large enough.
The delay fed concerns that the 14 million people on the two programs, which expand benefits to the self-employed and gig workers who typically cannot receive benefits and provide additional weeks of federal support after regular state benefits expire, would lose benefits for a week.
Michele Evermore, a top unemployment expert at the National Employment Law Project, identified a legal workaround to keep benefits flowing. Evermore is also a volunteer member of President-elect Joe BidenJoe BidenMichigan mayor draws criticism with Facebook posts suggesting rebellion: report Trump names Roisman acting SEC chairman Biden Interior nominee discusses environmental injustice with tribal leaders MORE‘s transition review team for the Labor Department, but says she was not acting in her capacity as a member of the Biden transition.
The workaround will also ensure that $300 in additional weekly payments to all unemployment benefit recipients will begin on time. Experts worried that a delay would simply cut off one of 11 weeks for the benefit, which has a set expiration date on March 14.
All told, the workaround saved $11 billion of targeted relief and stimulus money from essentially evaporating.
Other newer benefits in the COVID-19 relief bill, such as a $100 weekly benefit for people who earn incomes from multiple sources including self-employment, would take longer to implement, the department said.
Meanwhile, the House approved a bill to increase stimulus check payments from $600 to $2,000, but the bill’s fate in the Senate remains unclear.