Trump Gave Zero For immediate unemployment assistance That Trumped-Up GOP let lapse. The only rational part of the recent $400 Executive order is that the order lapses if real and authorized monies are approved--a line, 6. b. Everything else is about setting up an independent, FEMA-like bureaucracy, maybe complete with mobile homes in place--in case it rains, somewhere.
There is a lot more to FEMA than just, "Lost Wages Assistance," in fact--never put in place.
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b) To help meet the needs of the American people during this unprecedented and continuously evolving public health crisis, the Secretary of Homeland Security (Secretary), acting through the FEMA Administrator, is authorized to make available other needs assistance for lost wages, in accordance with section 408(e)(2) of the Stafford Act (42 U.S.C. 5174(e)(2)) (“lost wages assistance”), to the people of a State, including the members of any tribe residing therein, if the Governor requests lost wages assistance and agrees to administer delivery and provide adequate oversight of the program, for a major disaster I declared pursuant to section 401 of the Stafford Act (42 U.S.C. 5170) for COVID-19, under the following conditions:
(i) the Governor requests from the FEMA Administrator a grant for lost wages assistance pursuant to 42 U.S.C. 5174(f)(1)(A) and agrees to the cost-sharing requirement of 42 U.S.C. 5174(g)(2); and
(ii) the Governor administers delivery of financial assistance for lost wages in conjunction with the State’s unemployment insurance system.
(c) In exercising this authority, the Secretary, acting through the FEMA Administrator, shall, subject to the limitations above, approve a lost wages assistance program that authorizes the Governor to provide a $400 payment per week, which shall reflect a $300 Federal contribution, to eligible claimants from the week of unemployment ending August 1, 2020.
(d) For purposes of this memorandum, the term “Eligible claimants” means claimants who:
(i) receive, for the week lost wages assistance is sought, at least $100 per week of any of the following benefits:
(A) Unemployment compensation, including Unemployment Compensation for Federal Employees (UCFE) and Unemployment Compensation for Ex‑Service members (UCX), under section 8501 of title 5, United States Code;
(B) Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC), under section 2107 of the CARES Act;
(C) Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA), under section 2102 of the CARES Act;
(D) Extended Benefits (EB), under section 3304 of title 26, United States Code;
(E) Short-Time Compensation (STC), under section 3306(v) of title 26, United States Code;
(F) Trade Readjustment Allowance (TRA), under sections 2291 through 2293 of title 19, United States Code; and
(G) Payments under the Self-Employment Assistant (SEA) program, under section 3306(t) of title 26, United States Code; and
(ii) provide self-certification that the claimant is unemployed or partially unemployed due to disruptions caused by COVID-19.
(e) The authority vested in the Secretary, acting through the FEMA Administrator, to approve lost wages assistance shall not be construed to encompass authority to approve other forms of assistance.
Sec. 5. Additional Assistance. The Secretary of Labor shall provide, as appropriate, and consistent with applicable law, technical assistance to the FEMA Administrator and Governors in the implementation of lost wages assistance programs, including timely processing of advances from the Federal unemployment account pursuant to section 1321 of title 42, United States Code 321.
Sec. 6. Termination. (a) The lost wages assistance program described in section 4(b) of this memorandum shall be available for eligible claimants until the balance of the DRF reaches $25 billion or for weeks of unemployment ending not later than December 6, 2020, whichever occurs first, at which time the lost wages assistance program shall terminate.
(b) The lost wages assistance program shall terminate upon enactment of legislation providing, due to the COVID-19 outbreak, supplemental Federal unemployment compensation, or similar compensation, for unemployed or underemployed individuals.
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So the "Unemployment Benefit" is a Disaster Relief benefit(?): Not at all unemployment insurance.
That is number one. And then any numbers two up to and including an infinite number are about the details of the bureaucracy that has to be put into place.
The use re-directed use of funds already appropriated for something else is itself most likely lawfully dubious.
Then back to February--Why wasn't this invoked at the start. The concept of a "Natural Disaster" managed to escape the attention of the Trumped-Up Republicans.
Funeral costs can even be reimbursed(?), except not now!
"Crow, James Crow: Shaken, Not Stirred!"
(Deut 23: 19-20, is actually not about disaster relief!)