When could SC’s unemployed see the $400 a week Trump announced?
Gov. Henry McMaster says that South Carolina will participate in an enhanced unemployment benefit system announced by President Donald Trump — but it’s unclear where the funding for the program will come from.
Several influential state lawmakers, as well as the agency that manages the state’s unemployment system, are unsure if the additional unemployment payments are possible,
Under Trump’s order, an additional $400 per week would soon be on its way to the roughly 223,000 South Carolinians currently receiving unemployment benefits.
But there are several hurdles to overcome before the payments go out.
Trump’s order is a partial restoration of the $600 weekly unemployment benefits received by millions of people across the United States from late March through late July authorized through the federal CARES Act, an economic relief plan aimed at easing the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.. The enhanced benefit lapsed as talks between Democratic congressional leaders and White House negotiators collapsed last week.
The Trump action, unlike the $600 weekly benefit approved by Congress in March, would require a cost-share between states and the federal government. States would be required to cover 25% of the enhanced weekly payment — $100 — and the federal government would cover the other 75%.
“Gov. McMaster supports what the president is trying to do since Congress has failed to act,” Zach Pippin, a spokesperson for the governor, told The State.
He added there “are many questions or concerns to be resolved” and that “DEW estimates that it would cost upwards of $462 million for the state to provide a $100 match.”
It will cost South Carolina a little more than $22 million per week to cover additional payments, based on current unemployment figures from the state’s Department of Employment and Workforce.
House budget committee chairman Murrell Smith, R-Sumter, told The State he couldn’t say whether the state could cover the cost of the program.
“Unfortunately, our revenues are declining and we’ve got to really make decisions which prepare for the worst and hope for the best as we move forward in this budget process,” Smith said. “These are strange times. We all thought COVID would be behind us at this point and it’s still raging across the country.”
McMaster plans to meet with Smith and Senate Finance Committee chairman Hugh Leatherman, R-Florence, this week and the group plans to discuss the unemployment benefit proposal, Pippin said.
Smith’s Democratic colleague, House Minority Leader Todd Rutherford, offered sharper words.
“If the president really wanted to help people, he’d simply issue an executive order stating that the federal government would continue to shoulder this burden,” said the Richland Democrat, who sits on the S.C. House Ways and Means Committee.
“But it’s even worse to pretend like you’re doing something that you’re really not,” Rutherford said. “We (South Carolina) don’t operate like the federal government. We don’t print money. So, the governor does not need to waste his time coming to do this unless he’s willing to cut his entire budget. We’re not one of those states that runs on deficits.”
In South Carolina, the average weekly unemployment benefit is $236, according to DEW. The maximum weekly unemployment benefit a South Carolinian can receive is $326.
The director of DEW, Dan Ellzey, raised alarms during the spring that South Carolina’s unemployment insurance trust fund — which pays out unemployment benefits and is funded by employer business fees — was going to run out of money.
In April, the fund had about $980 million in the account. Heather Biance, a DEW spokesperson, said Monday the balance of the trust fund was $566 million on Aug 1.
State lawmakers used $500 million of the state’s CARES Act funds to fill the trust fund back up in June, but Biance told The State Monday that DEW had not yet received those additional funds.
South Carolina lawmakers are likely to send more CARES Act money to the unemployment trust fund anyway when lawmakers return to Columbia in mid-September.
But sending those dollars to Trump’s cost-share program could redirect money meant for purchasing additional personal protective equipment, to help state agencies and local governments cover COVID-related expenses or work to expand broadband throughout South Carolina.
Biance declined to comment Monday whether the state agency would be able to make an extra $100 payment work with its system, saying it needed more federal guidance on implementation and funding before the agency commented about a timeline.
“What we will say is that once the guidance is received and reviewed, we will work with our vendor to comply with the law,” Biance said in an email to The State.
