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Law360 (August 10, 2020, 9:55 PM EDT) -- The U.S. Department of Labor circulated guidance Monday on ways states could cover their share of costs under President Donald Trump's new plan to supplement unemployment benefits, advising that the weekly benefits states are already issuing could count toward their cut.
President Donald Trump signs executive orders Saturday, including authorization to further supplement unemployment benefits amid the coronavirus pandemic. The DOL circulated guidance on that plan Monday. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Although these benefits would be void if Congress overcomes its current stalemate on the next coronavirus relief package and passes its own supplemental federal jobless aid plan, an email Law360 obtained Monday shows the Labor Department has laid out guidelines for how states could foot the bill in the meantime.
In one option, states could count the existing unemployment benefits they pay weekly toward their $100 tab under Trump's new plan, meaning those out of work would only receive $300 a week under the executive order. This strategy would require "no new expenditures of state funds," according to John Pallasch, the assistant secretary for the DOL's Employment and Training Administration, who signed the email.
States could also pay their share from budgets outside of their traditional unemployment insurance coffers, including from federal coronavirus relief funds already distributed to states earlier in the crisis, according to the email.
The Labor Department recommended that states meet their cost-sharing requirement, allotting the full $400-a-week to those out of work due to the global health crisis, but said they're not required to do so.
The DOL has a call planned with state unemployment authorities Tuesday afternoon to hash out specific plans and formal guidance will come out later this week, according to the email.
The DOL did not respond to press inquiries Monday.
Trump rolled out the executive orders this weekend as negotiations over the latest coronavirus relief bill stalled out on Capitol Hill, with benefits slated to run through Dec. 27 or when the FEMA's disaster relief purse dips to $25 billion, whichever happens first.
The initiative was met with sharp criticism by Democratic state leaders, as New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo called it a "nonstarter" that states "can't afford" in a tweet Monday afternoon, and California Gov. Gavin Newsom panning the effort as "absurd" and "false promises" on the platform over the weekend.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, who heads up the Democratic Governors Association, also characterized the measure as a hollow gesture that will "force states already strained by a recession to foot the bill," in a statement released Monday.
--Editing by Jay Jackson Jr.
For a reprint of this article, please contact reprints@law360.com.
