Trump’s offer of $300 a week unemployment aid is getting a cool reception from about half of U.S. states.
“We have five states that have already been approved,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told CNBC on Tuesday. “We have another four states that have submitted and about another 10 states that are in the process.”
Trump’s plan was to use pre-allocated FEMA monies, redirected to replace the $600 federal boost to unemployed workers.
South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem has outright said “no thanks.”
South Dakota currently has the ninth lowest unemployment, and she says they don’t need it. But at 7.2%, South Dakota’s unemployment is still double what it was pre-pandemic. Food pantries in South Dakota are also drawing double the participants, including those seeking aid for the first time.
Democratic state Sen. Reynold Nesiba is dumbfounded by Noem’s move when 34,000 residents were out of work in June. Federal unemployment aid would have provided $10 million per week that would have benefitted other businesses, landlords, and bankers.
Complete story at NPR.