Kristi Noem: South Dakota refuses Trump’s unemployment benefit increase

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“South Dakota’s never-closed economy has recouped nearly 80 percent of our job losses,” Noem, a staunch supporter of the president, said in a statement Friday. “South Dakota is open for business – this applies to our business owners and their employees.”

In executive action announced last weekend, Trump said the federal government would provide the unemployed with a payment of $ 300, using $ 44 billion in disaster relief funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. . The move came after Congress failed to extend its unemployment supplement, which expired at the end of July after providing the unemployed with $ 600 a week for four months.
But states would have to accept the Trump administration’s offer, which would require them to create a new payment system because it is not part of the existing unemployment program.

Initially, the president said the unemployed would receive up to $ 400 per week, but states would have to pay $ 100 of that amount. After an outcry from cash-strapped states, the Labor Department said states could count state benefits they were already paying to meet the match requirement.

According to some experts, it could take weeks before the lost wages assistance money begins to flow to the unemployed, although the administration has said it can be done in two weeks. Payments will be retroactive to the week ending August 1, but may last only six weeks if all states register.

Four states – Arizona, Iowa, Louisiana, and New Mexico – have applied for and been approved for the program, Trump tweeted Saturday.

“More states to come!” he tweeted.

Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy and West Virginia Governor Jim Justice, both Republicans, and North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper, a Democrat, said last week that their states would also participate. Other governors, including Brian Kemp of Georgia, another Trump ally, said they were reviewing the executive measure.

Although Noem says South Dakota has recovered many of its jobs, its unemployment rate in June was 7.2%, more than double the rate of 3.1% in March, but down from 10.9% in April. Eight states had lower rates in June.

More than 28 million Americans were receiving unemployment benefits under various programs as of July 25. But not all will be eligible for the Trump boost – only those who receive at least $ 100 in state allowances are eligible.



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