Gavin Newsom says $300 a week in added unemployment benefits is not enough, but he’ll take it
President Donald Trump’s current proposal for additional unemployment benefits of $300 a week just doesn’t go far enough, California Gov. Gavin Newsom said during a Wednesday press conference.
But he said he won’t “look a gift horse in the mouth” now that Trump has said states do not have to come up with another $100 a week on their own. The Democratic governor said he’s working on how California can process the $300 in the president’s proposal “as quickly and efficiently as possible.”
The $600 in weekly additional federal unemployment benefits expired at the end of July, and Congress and the White House have been deadlocked in negotiations to extend some or all of that amount.
Newsom thanked Congress and the president for getting that passed earlier this year.
“I think it substantially mitigated the economic consequences of this pandemic,” he said. “I think it substantially aided the capacity for businesses to remain open because of consumer spending and consumer confidence.”
With no agreement in sight, Trump signed a memorandum on Saturday that provided an effective $400 a week, but which put states on the hook for some of that funding. Governors called the plan unworkable, and Trump said this week that not all states would have to pay a share.
Still, Newsom said the amount left in the proposal simply isn’t enough.
“I think it is a historic blunder if we are unable to accommodate the needs of tens of millions of Americans with subsequent supplemental unemployment insurance,” Newsom said. “I believe, personally and professionally, that $300 is simply”loo inadequate to do that.”
In his Wednesday remarks, Newsom said that he would continue to advocate for more federal support “as we wait for either a deal with the current administration or a deal with the next administration in January.” He said he spoke with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, on Tuesday.
The governor’s comments come as the state deals with a massive backlog of unemployment claims caused in part by an aging information technology system.
One catch, Newsom said, is that Trump’s executive order also changes eligibility requirements for the payments. He said that would make it very difficult for states to get the new benefits out to unemployed workers within a reasonable time frame.
“When you introduce new eligibility rules into these ancient systems, and trust me California is not the only one, it creates a processing problem that can delay the distribution of these checks,” Newsom said. “We’re grateful to take those dollars. We’re happy to accept them, we believe they are not enough. But you can’t change the eligibility rules in a way that will impact our capacity to get them in the pockets of people that need them the most.”
This story was originally published August 12, 2020 at 3:43 PM with the headline "Gavin Newsom says $300 a week in added unemployment benefits is not enough, but he’ll take it."