Political wrangling in the waning days of the Trump administration could hit unemployed Alabamians starting today. The current federal jobless benefits through the U.S. CARES Act are set to expire today, and there’s no indication President Trump has signed a new program ironed out by Congress, which included $900 stimulus checks for most Americans. Trump insisted that the amount be hiked to $2,000, then jetted off to his Mar-A-Lago property in Florida, leaving Democratic lawmakers seizing on the President’s apparent generosity and the GOP reportedly feeling blindsided.
Caught in the middle are the 85,000 unemployed Alabamians who depend on the extra benefits from Washington after losing their jobs to the pandemic. Current federal dollars are set to run out today. The Alabama Department of Labor says thousands of these workers have exhausted their State benefits, leaving federal money from the CARES Act as their primary sole of income. In Alabama, the two programs that will expire today are Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, or PUA, and Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation, or PEUC. PUA is for people who don’t typically qualify for regular unemployment compensation, such as the self-employed or part-time workers. PEUC provides for an additional thirteen weeks of money to extend regular unemployment compensation recipients.
One concern at the Alabama Department of Labor is that even if Trump signs the new bill, there will be a lag in benefits to the state level as Alabama awaits both dollars from Washington and instructions on how to administer the money. The State Labor Department suggests that workers apply now, despite the lack of funding, so if the federal money starts flowing, jobless workers might receive back pay that’s owed to them in addition to current benefits.
