With COVID-19 stilling running rampant around the country, many are still out of a job and struggling to find any other employment. After a federal unemployment benefit program ended in July, President Trump has introduced a new program which would pay $400 a week; this is a $200 decrease from the last program. Most notably, states would be required to pay 25% of the costs necessary to fund it. Some of the larger and highly impacted states, such as California, claim that this new program would cost the state around $700 million per week.

This will cause states to examine where their current CARES Act Funds are being spent and where cutbacks must be made to be able to fund the new unemployment benefits. States will have to choose which programs they can afford, which may cause a decrease in the ability to fund COVID-19 testing, contact tracing, and safely reopen schools, just to name a few.

Read more about the new unemployment benefit plan and the impacts it will have on state finances.