ST. PETERSBURG, Fla — Federal funding for unemployment assistance could soon be on the way to 11 states, but Florida is not yet one of them.
Eleven states have been approved for the $300 federal unemployment boost that was signed into order by President Donald Trump two weekends ago:
- Arizona
- Colorado
- Idaho
- Iowa
- Louisiana
- Maryland
- Missouri
- Montana
- New Mexico
- Oklahoma
- Utah
The additional assistance is replacing the $600 federal unemployment payments that stopped last month.
At this point, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has yet to make a decision on what to do. His office says they are still reviewing guidance from the department of labor and FEMA before making a decision as to whether to apply or not.
But that delay could be costly.
“If states begin to opt-in, and Florida decides to wait to the last minute, there may not be funding left because there's only a certain amount of money that he can allocate," said Vanessa Brito, a community activist that has been working on unemployment issues in Florida.
Floridians who have been out of work for months had to make difficult decisions once the Cares Act financial support stopped.
"I basically had to pick and choose which bills I would be paying," said unemployed Floridian Gia Cuccaro. "Am I paying my rent? Or am I going grocery shopping? Am I paying my internet service? Or am I going grocery shopping? I mean $275 is certainly not enough.”
But some lawmakers don’t want DeSantis to jump the gun. Representative Cathy Castor said in a statement to 10 Tampa Bay
“Florida’s existing system is already a debacle – we can’t feel too good about Governor DeSantis setting up another one.”
She went on to say, “Democrats have offered to meet Republicans halfway in negotiations, and we’ll return to DC this weekend to continue to press our case.”
Trump made up to $44 billion from FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund available for this financial assistance, with it being billed as an extra $400 a week -- $300 from the federal government and the states kicking in the extra $100. The money will be distributed in chunks to help save money for states that apply late, but there are no guarantees.
Applications must be submitted by Sept. 10.
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