‘We’re starving.’ Americans brace for even harder times as COVID unemployment aid ends

Update 12/28: President Donald Trump signed the coronavirus relief and spending bill into law Sunday night after Congress passed it Dec. 22.

Millions of Americans lost their unemployment benefits overnight Saturday as President Donald Trump refused to sign a COVID-19 relief and spending bill unless the amount of money included in direct payments to most Americans increased from $600 to $2,000.

Congress passed the $2.3 trillion bill, which includes $900 billion in COVID-19 relief, last week after months of on-again, off-again negotiations over the price tag and components of a second pandemic aid package.

In addition to another round of stimulus checks, which would be half the size of those sent to most Americans under the CARES Act, the proposed package includes extended unemployment benefits, an eviction moratorium, small-business aid and vaccine funding, among other things.

But Trump’s refusal to sign the bill into law put its future in limbo and caused a lapse in aid, frustrating the millions of Americans who are out of work and in need of aid.

“I only have $100 left to my name,” said Jo Marie Hernandez, USA Today reported. “My whole world is shattered. We can’t wait a few weeks for help. We’re starving and will be out on the street soon.”

The 32-year-old from Olean, New York, lost her job at a gas station in the spring and has been forced to put her car up for sale to raise money.

“It’s unnerving,” said Michelle Hanson of Everett, Washington, KING reported. “I have three kids that really like to, you know, eat — breakfast, lunch and dinner. They really enjoy power and running water. It’s not just me I have to worry about..”

Hanson has twice found herself out of a job when coronavirus surges closed Washington restaurants, according to the station.

“I’m asking to be able to keep my apartment,” said Stephanie Lott, 30, The Washington Post reported. “To be able to live, and not live on the street. I’m not asking to be put in a golden apartment or anything. I just want to be able to live.”

The shift to online schooling cost Lott most of her income as a substitute teacher, according to the publication. Her friends have been helping her pay her bills, but money is running out.

“People think that, ‘Oh, they just sit on their butts and get unemployment,’” said Patricia Patterson-Patrick, The Detroit Free Press reported. “But I’ve worked all of my life. I’ve never been in this situation.”

The 42-year-old Pontiac, Michigan, resident had been about to start a new job at an outlet mall when the coronavirus pandemic shut down stores, according to the publication,

“Everything that I saved, my cushion per se, it’s gone,” said Danny Baker, a California bartender out of work since March, KGO reported.

“It’s a chess game and we are pawns,” said Lanetris Haines, a self-employed single mother of three in South Bend, Indiana, the Associated Press reported.

The new relief bill comes roughly 10 months after the $2 trillion CARES Act was signed into law in March.

The CARES Act, among other things, provided two key government programs: the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program, which provides unemployment benefits to freelance and gig workers, and the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation program, which extended state unemployment benefits by 13 weeks.

Both programs expired Dec. 26, affecting an estimated 12 million Americans as the pandemic rages on.

Unemployment has soared in the United States amid the pandemic, with an additional 803,000 Americans filing jobless claims the week of Dec. 19, according to the Labor Department. The unemployment rate hit 14.7% in April before falling to 6.7% by November.

A continued refusal to sign the bill could have meant a lapse in eviction protections and mortgage forbearance as additional programs are set to expire by the end of the year.

Additionally, it could have meant a government shutdown at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday as the relief package was wrapped into a larger spending bill, without which the government would lack the widespread funding needed to continue operating. That could mean a suspension of non-essential services and of military pay, among other things.

Congress had rushed to send another round of aid to the president’s desk as those deadlines neared and after months of congressional Republicans and Democrats and the White House being unable to reach a deal.

But Trump has criticized the size of the stimulus checks and “pork” spending included in the bill.

“I simply want to get our great people $2000, rather than the measly $600 that is now in the bill,” the president tweeted Saturday. “Also, stop the billions of dollars in ‘pork.’”

The $2,000 checks lack support from Republican lawmakers.

House Republicans on Thursday blocked an attempt from Democrats to pass a bill that would have provided the $2,000 stimulus checks.

“Today, on Christmas Eve morning, House Republicans cruelly deprived the American people of the $2,000 that the President agreed to support. If the President is serious about the $2,000 direct payments, he must call on House Republicans to end their obstruction,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement. “On Monday, I will bring the House back to session where we will hold a recorded vote on our stand-alone bill to increase economic impact payments to $2,000.”

More than 19 million coronavirus cases and 332,000 deaths have been reported in the United States as of Sunday afternoon, according to Johns Hopkins University.

This story was originally published December 27, 2020 at 11:55 AM with the headline "‘We’re starving.’ Americans brace for even harder times as COVID unemployment aid ends."