After a week of mixed messaging from state and federal officials, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said Tuesday that the state expects to receive the first round of federal funding for a $300 enhancement of weekly unemployment benefits by the end of the week.
But final guidance from the U.S. Department of Labor indicates that 87,000 unemployed Louisianans will be excluded from the program.
The estimated 67,000 unemployed Louisianans who receive some weekly state benefits, but less than $100, are ineligible for the $300 federal benefit. Another 20,000 people who initially said they lost work for reasons other than the coronavirus are also excluded, though Edwards said they could eventually receive the federal benefits if they can tie their continued joblessness to the pandemic.
Last week, Edwards estimated that 200,000 Louisianans received weekly state unemployment benefits less than $100. That number has since been corrected after consultation with the Louisiana Workforce Commission, which runs the state’s unemployment program.
The $375 million will cover three weeks of enhanced unemployment benefits for the approximately 417,000 unemployed Louisianans who qualify for the assistance provided by President Donald Trump’s executive action.
The first check will include $300 weekly payments dating back to Aug. 1. The state will have to reapply for federal funds each week to continue the enhanced payments.
President Donald Trump does not have the authority to directly appropriate money to states for enhanced unemployment benefits, so he tapped into the Federal Emergency Management Administration’s Disaster Relief Fund — a pot of money typically reserved for responding to natural disasters — to pay for the program.
The U.S. Department of Labor’s final guidance gave states two options to participate in the program. They could pay an additional $100 in state benefits to give unemployed workers the full $400 per week boost initially promised by the Trump Administration, or they could count current state benefits toward the 100 percent cost-sharing requirement.
Louisiana took the second option. Gov. John Bel Edwards said with the state’s unemployment trust fund nearly insolvent, the state could not afford to increase its weekly unemployment benefits.
“Quite frankly, the other option was not feasible for us and I don’t think it’s going to prove to be feasible for the vast majority of states,” Edwards said. “In Louisiana, option one would have cost the state an additional $48 million a week.”
Late last week, Edwards said federal officials presented him with a possible third option that would have allowed the state to distribute $300 per week to every unemployed worker, as long as the average weekly state payout was more than $100.
Christina Stephens, a spokesperson for Edwards, said Department of Labor officials gave Edwards and other governors that option on a teleconference last week, only to issue conflicting guidance days later.
Edwards said he will send a letter to the Department of Labor to formally request that they allow more leniency in their cost-sharing requirements.
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