Trump signs! But the stupid delay will cause more economic damage in 2021

You may have heard that President Trump decided to sign the stimulus and funding bills after all, following one week of big talk and complaints. So hurray, millions of Americans won't be cut off of unemployment benefits and/or face eviction as 2020 ends.

But Trump's dithering and posing will still lead to issues for many people, even if they aren't going to be cut off of unemployment. Channel 27 in Madison had a story talking about the added difficulties some Wisconsinites may be going through this week.

It was a common problem mentioned today on this facebook page for people having unemployment problems.

I reached out to @WIWorkforce hoping to get some clarity but am still waiting for a response. pic.twitter.com/8tVqdl908m

— A.J. Bayatpour (@AJBayatpour) December 28, 2020

Jennifer Gorman's Sunday routine since May has included filing a weekly claim for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA), a federal relief program for people unable to get traditional unemployment insurance through their state.

But on this Sunday, Gorman was unable to submit her claim. PUA benefits expired on Saturday, December 26, along with Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation, a 13-week extension of federal benefits for people whose state unemployment benefits had run out.

While President Trump signed the relief packages approved by Congress, he waited nearly one week to do so. Over the course of those six days, PUA and PEUC expired. Gorman said when she want to apply for what she thought would be the last week of benefits, she instead got caught in a cycle on the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development's website.

"It says you need to file an initial claim or re-open your claim. Once you click on that button to file an initial claim, it'll bring you to another page that says reopen your claim," Gorman said. "When you click on that button to reopen your claim, it brings you back to the other page that says you need to file an initial claim so it's just a back-and-forth, back-and-forth."…

It was unclear Sunday whether Gorman and others would get backpay for the past week and, if so, whether they would need to re-apply for the federal assistance programs.

In addition, if individuals have to start over in filing PUA (like if they had gig work during the Holidays and then lost it afterwards). And according to another provision of the stimulus package, if they end up filing in Feburary or March, they may need to supply additional documentation, which can cause even more delays.

•Effective January 31, 2021, requires new applicants for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) to submit documentation to substantiate employment or self-employment within 21 days and provides for such deadline to be extended when an individual has shown good cause.
•Requires individuals receiving PUA as of January 31, 2021 to submit documentation to substantiate employment or self-employment within 90 days.

States are about to have to process 1099s for 10 million+ people, something they've never been required to do, while a million UI claims come in every week and they're trying to stand up a million tweaks to new and expiring programs.

— Elizabeth Pancotti (@ENPancotti) December 21, 2020

I assume the intent is to reduce the possibility of fraud, but this will likely trip up many applicants who will assume they can file claims the same way they used to. Then, when the Wisconsin DWD (or the equivalent in other states) asks for more information, they won’t have it readily available. And it'll take longer for them to receive their PUA benefits.

Another possible hangup in the new stimulus bill relates to the one-week waiting period for benefits. Wisconsin had this provision before the COVID World began, but got rid of it after the CARES Act had the Feds pay all of the cost of that first week. You may remember this coming up when the WisGOP Legislature took 3 weeks to pass the bill that adopted this CARES provision, which cost the state $25 million in federal funding.

Well, the new bill still gives an incentive to not have the waiting week, but it's only 50% of the cost, not 100%. In addition, if there is not another law passed by the WisGOP Legislature, the waiting week comes back after February 6. You can bet that one-week waiting period to get money would come as quite a surprise to people laid off after then.

And watch for WisGOP legislators to use these delays and confusing changes in laws as an excuse to blame the Evers Administration. Despite the reality that some of these items didn't become law until Trump got off the golf course on Sunday, and others will likely be due to WisGOP inaction/sabotage. Just another parting gift from the lowlifes, you know.