A deeper dive in Trump’s executive orders shows they are in no way enough to provide substantive relief to Americans during this economic crisis.
In an unusual and highly controversial move on Saturday, Trump attempted to take matters into his own hands—skirting the need for Congressional approval by signingPerhaps unsurprisingly, the president’s promises are already being scrutinized and are unlikely to actually help the American people. In fact, he will likely faceHere’s what Trump’s new executive actions actually mean.Trump claims his new policies will provide an additional $400 per week in unemployment benefits.
allowed Americans to receive $600 from the federal government, on top of their state’s normal benefits.Many state governments are already struggling to stay afloat and have been asking for support from the federal government for months. Therefore, they may beof the new benefits—simply because they can’t afford the additional weekly $100 benefit per person. This means Trump’s promised benefits might never materialize for many.
“This is an empty promise to unemployed people,” said Rebecca Dixon, executive director of the National Employment Law Project.“What we had was working for millions of people and supporting our struggling economy—and the support needed to be expanded to cover all unemployed workers. … This is particularly true for underpaid Black, Latinx and Indigenous workers, most of all women, who don’t have wealth or savings to cover the basics, much less emergency expenses.
“Given a finite pool of funds and administrative hurdles to get the benefit running, this will further exacerbate the inequality between states. States that have the most sophisticated systems may be able to stand up this program eventually, but those states that have been faltering due to decades of neglect or outright sabotage will be less likely to see any of this money.