Post by phillip on Aug 11, 2020 22:02:09 GMT
Gov. Ron DeSantis is considering borrowing money from the federal government to boost the state’s paltry unemployment benefits, he said during a news conference Tuesday.
DeSantis is considering taking a loan from the U.S. Department of Labor to increase benefits, which, at a maximum of just $275 per week, are one of the stingiest in the nation. He didn’t say how much he was looking to increase benefits.
“We’re looking to see what that would entail,” DeSantis said. “This [Department of Labor] thing may give us a way.”
DeSantis said that plan would be more viable than President Donald Trump’s idea to allow the state to spend emergency pandemic and natural disaster funds to increase benefits by $400 per month. The emergency CARES Act dollars that Trump said would pay for the unemployment relief in his plan have already been assigned to pandemic-related expenses, DeSantis said.
“That’s not an option for us in Florida, because those CARES Act dollars are obligated already,” DeSantis told reporters. “Now they haven’t been quote, ‘spent,’ but it’s $4 plus billion that’s been obligated, so we’ve got to do that.”
DeSantis is considering taking a loan from the U.S. Department of Labor to increase benefits, which, at a maximum of just $275 per week, are one of the stingiest in the nation. He didn’t say how much he was looking to increase benefits.
“We’re looking to see what that would entail,” DeSantis said. “This [Department of Labor] thing may give us a way.”
DeSantis said that plan would be more viable than President Donald Trump’s idea to allow the state to spend emergency pandemic and natural disaster funds to increase benefits by $400 per month. The emergency CARES Act dollars that Trump said would pay for the unemployment relief in his plan have already been assigned to pandemic-related expenses, DeSantis said.
“That’s not an option for us in Florida, because those CARES Act dollars are obligated already,” DeSantis told reporters. “Now they haven’t been quote, ‘spent,’ but it’s $4 plus billion that’s been obligated, so we’ve got to do that.”
While other governors balked at Trump’s plan or dismissed it as a political stunt, Florida lawmakers from both parties were receptive to it on Monday. With nearly 800,000 jobless Floridians relying on such meager benefits, the state doesn’t have a choice but to find a way to increase benefits, they said.
Say, isn't this Archie's state that he is so proud of?