CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) - Nevada officials overseeing the state’s unemployment insurance system blasted the U.S. Congress for gridlock that has prevented passage of a bill that extends benefits for laid-off workers amid the pandemic.
Former Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley, who leads a state strike force tasked with ensuring people receive benefits that they are entitled to, said unless the U.S. House of Representatives, Senate and President Donald Trump agree on a bill that extends pandemic relief, Nevada would be forced to stop providing benefits to about 200,000 laid-off workers who currently receive them.
“Families are about to face unbelievable hardship as their unemployment benefits stop on Saturday,” Buckley said. “Our economy is still reeling from this pandemic. Jobs have not yet returned. Congress and the president have had months to act.”
Coronavirus relief passed by the federal government in the spring has allowed the state to extend traditional unemployment benefits for laid-off workers and provide benefits to freelance and gig workers traditionally not eligible for benefits. A bill to extend the benefits beyond 2020 has languished for months, with the Democratic-led House and Republican-led Senate unable to reach agreement on a supplemental aid package.
After a deal negotiated by party leaders won bipartisan approval, Trump said he would sign neither a government funds bill nor a coronavirus relief package, putting unemployment benefits, eviction protections and other emergency aid at risk.
Unemployment spiked after the pandemic forced businesses to close in March. In Nevada, where a 28.2% unemployment rate topped the U.S. in April, hundreds of thousands of unforeseen claims have flooded the state’s unemployment system, resulting in delayed payouts, attempted fraud, widespread confusion regarding eligibility and outrage among the general public.
To receive benefits, claimants have been forced to navigate a confusing set of requirements and a system plagued by balky technology, computer glitches and jammed phone lines. Even if the president and congressional leaders reach an agreement, it will take the state weeks to adapt its system to new requirements, said Elisa Cafferata, the director of Nevada’s Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation.
“It is not possible for our system to prepare for three different possible futures all at the same time. We cannot prepare our system to stop, delay or continue all at once,” she said.
Cafferata urged claimants to continue to file for weekly benefits and reassured them that if they’re unable to file because of delays, the state plans to let them “catch up” once a bill is signed.
The bill negotiated by Republicans and Democrats in Congress and rejected by Trump included additional requirements for unemployed workers already enrolled in the benefit system, including tax forms that prove income, like 1099s. It also allowed states to decide whether to claw back overpayment from claimants.
After a bill is passed, the U.S. Department of Labor will issue a guidance document to states about the new requirements. It would take about two weeks for the changes to be implemented, Cafferata said.
“A gap in benefits has become virtually unavoidable for Nevadans,” she said.
Cafferata said she expected the holidays to be an “extremely difficult” time for families who have run out of money.
The fate of other programs like tenant assistance remain in limbo until Congress passes an aid package. But Cafferata urged struggling residents to identify assistance programs like food aid and utility-payment relief by calling 211 or monitoring media reports.
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Sam Metz is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
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