The Federal Emergency Management Agency or FEMA announced the first four states to receive $400 weekly unemployment benefit through the executive order Pres. Trump signed and issued last Saturday.

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Pres. Donald Trump has long been expressing his support for the second round of stimulus payments to help millions of Americans who are heavily impacted by the global pandemic. However, the stimulus negotiations failed due to some disagreements.

This led Pres. Trump to sign and issue an executive order that expands the weekly unemployment claim. Each qualified unemployed individual will receive $400. The fund will be taken from the unspent budget of the FEMA. On the other hand, the states will cover $100 of the cost.

Moreover, FEMA announced recently the first four states that will receive the unemployment claims. These states are Arizona, Iowa, Louisiana, and New Mexico. These states agreed to the program and will counterpart an amount of $100.

Meanwhile, Pres. Trump urged other states who expressed that they cannot support or counterpart a cost that worth $100 because of the economic fallout to make a request . Additionally, the weekly federal unemployment claim is on top of the unemployment insurance.

According to a published report in CBS News, FEMA said that they will closely work with the governors of the four states. This is to ensure that the system will be implemented and that the fund will be made accessible to the residents in their states.

An amount of $44 billion from the unspent budget of FEMA in the agency's Disaster Relief Fund will be used to supplement the different states. However, it is not clear as to how long will the fund can sustain the unemployment claims.

Democrats first proposed in May the HEROES Act that aims to continue the CARES Act. The Democratic-led HEROES Act's purpose is to expand the $600 weekly unemployment claim. However, this act was rejected because Republicans described it as too "ridiculous" and will just put millions of Americans not to go back to work but only depend on the unemployment claim.

Later on, the Republicans proposed the CARES 2 and then, called it as HEALS Act. If the HEALS Act was only approved by Congress and stimulus negotiators, millions of Americans will benefit from the law on top of the unemployment claim like an added bonus for those who will go back to work.

Pres Trump knew the economic impact of COVID-19 on American families. That is why he signed an executive order for the expansion of the unemployment claim and three memoranda that freeze student loans, house eviction protection, and delay payroll taxes until the end of the year.

Recently, Pres. Trump directed Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to get ready to send direct payments that worth $3,400 for a family of four. Additionally, there are no additional details yet about the direct stimulus payments.

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