JACKSONVILLE, Fla — Thousands of unemployed Floridians are telling the governor to “Get a move on,” as they wait on additional federal unemployment benefits.
The president issued a memorandum for Lost Wages Assistance funding, granting unemployed Americans an additional $300 per week.
Initially, the president’s memo required the states to help fund the new LWA payments by adding $100 on top of the $300 the federal government would provide.
Some states, like Florida, said they can’t afford to do that.
Now, that requirement has been dropped. States can simply apply for the federal money and distribute it. That’s why many Floridians are wondering, why hasn’t the governor applied for this grant yet?
“We’ve had thousands of people email him,” said Vanessa Brito, who is rallying her "unemployment troops." “I mean we have people who are scheduling their emails every five minutes and phone calls on redial.”
Brito is telling the governor unemployed Floridians need help, and they need it fast. Many are living off of $275 at the very most and many living off of less than that.
It’s possible the president’s memo can be challenged in court as many are saying it is unconstitutional for the president to be reallocating funds. This had the governor concerned with implementing it.
“I want to make sure there’s no legal risk with this if someone were to challenge this and then we’d be left on the hook,” the governor said at a news conference last week.
The governor mentioned taking out a loan with the department of labor to simply increase state benefits.
“The least the state can do at this point while a decision is made on weekly benefits and the weekly amount is to start paying out that $300,” Brito said.
If this memo is challenged in court and Florida doesn’t use state money to participate like it was originally asked, Brito says they are in the clear.
“They have nothing to lose,” Brito said. “Remember, the Lost Wages Assistance program is a FEMA grant, so that is not a loan the state needs to pay back.”
To be eligible for LWA, the claimant needs to be receiving at least $100 in unemployment benefits.
Brito and her army are suggesting at the very least, increase benefits by a small percentage to get someone who may be making $96 eligible for the $300 supplement. That small increase is a lot cheaper for Florida to implement than what the president’s memo was asking states to do and it will still get claimants their $300 supplement.
Many states have already applied. Arizona has already implemented the program for residents.
“We need to say, you know what, people are already receiving their federal supplement,” Brito said. We’re about to get evicted, we need that. If you don’t want to do anything else, that’s fine. At least help us get this for the next couple of weeks.”
While we wait for a decision to be made on additional funding, Brito says it is imperative to use this time to make sure you have a correct wage determination.
Many claimants who applied for federal PUA benefits got an automatic $125 or less per week and their benefits were not updated to reflect what they are eligible for.
Getting your wage redetermined if needed may be the difference in receiving the extra $300 if your current determination is under $100.