President Donald Trump signed a $900 billion Covid relief package into law Sunday. But the extra unemployment benefits it contains may take weeks to arrive. Workers may also get less money than they’d thought.
However, states must wait to begin issuing the funds. The president’s signature starts a chain reaction that will likely end with workers getting their first checks well into January, according to unemployment experts.
Plus, Trump’s delay in signing the relief bill, which Congress passed a week ago, allowed two unemployment programs supporting 14 million Americans to expire over the weekend.
Bringing those back on line could further slow the process, creating a wider gap in benefits for those who lost them.
“Unfortunately, by delaying the signing of the bill and letting these programs lapse, President Trump likely increased the delay these workers will experience in getting their [unemployment] benefit payments,” said Elizabeth Pancotti, a policy advisor at Employ America, a progressive think tank. While some states will likely start disbursing aid in the next few weeks, others may take as many as five to seven weeks, Pancotti said. That would mirror workers’ experience over the summer with a prior $300 weekly boost to benefits via a Lost Wages Assistance program, she said.
