First Four States to Start Paying Weekly $300 Unemployment Benefits

Four states across the country start paying $300 unemployment benefits after Pres. Donald Trump signed the roughly $900 billion Stimulus Package.

Pres. Donald Trump signed the $2.4 trillion government spending bill that included the roughly $900 billion Stimulus Package. This entails financial aids such as stimulus checks, unemployment benefits, Paycheck Protection Program for small businesses, and more.

First Four States Paying $300 Unemployment Benefit

Millions of Americans across the country lost their jobs amid the global pandemic. This led them to rely on government and state unemployment benefits to meet their daily needs and expenses. The federal weekly unemployment benefit has helped millions to buy food and pay their rent.

Pres. Donald Trump recently signed the $900 billion Stimulus Package that includes $300 weekly unemployment benefits.

Just two days after it was signed into law, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the U.S. Treasury Secretary announced that they started sending the stimulus checks, according to Latin Post.

Meanwhile, four states also started sending $300 weekly unemployment benefits and these are California, New York, Arizona, and Rhode Island, according to Business Insider. These states started sending the payment, according to the state labor agencies.

Moreover, it is estimated that there are still about 10 million people who remain unemployed while millions of Americans and residents in the country coming from different demographics who are at risk of house eviction and food insecurity.

When will the payments be made?

Not all but some Californians started receiving their $300 weekly unemployment benefit on January 3, while New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced on Dec. 29 that residents in the state will receive their weekly unemployment benefit on the first week of January.

Rhode Island also posted on its official Twitter account on Dec. 31 and wrotex, "Starting next week, all claimants will receive an extra $300/week on top of your regular payment amount. This will be done automatically; no need to reapply or contact us. Like all UI payments, it's taxable, so the deposit won't be the full $300 if you have taxes withheld."

According to CNBC, the states of Connecticut and Washington will also start ending the $300 unemployment benefit by the middle of the month.

Meanwhile, other states across the country did not yet signify when they will send out the benefit.

This is the third time that the federal government provided weekly unemployment benefits since the pandemic began.

The first one was given after the CARES Act was signed into law in March 2020. Pres. Trump then released an executive order expanding the weekly unemployment benefit using the unspent budget from FEMA in August.

It can be remembered that the unemployment benefit under the CARES Act was $600 every week while $300 using the unspent budget from FEMA.

This is just one of the financial aids that millions of Americans received amid the global pandemic. There are still many aids like stimulus checks, PPP loans, dependent payments, and more.