MNI POLICY: Trump's Exec Orders Provide Little Aid to Jobless

President Donald Trump's efforts to sidestep Congress with unilateral actions to boost the economic recovery and support the unemployed through executive orders have failed to deliver significant cash.

Roughly three weeks since Trump pledged on Aug. 8 to deliver "immediate and vital relief" to Americans after unemployment benefits expired in late July and fiscal talks broke down, a total of USD1.4 billion in federal disaster funds have been disbursed, Treasury data released Friday show.

By contrast, the USD600 per week per person emergency jobless benefit add-on translated into aid of about USD15 billion per week.

Analysts continue to estimate that USD44 billion available to fund Trump's USD300 extension of unemployment benefits in his executive actions will cover payments for only about five weeks. So far, the program has had a slow start because it is administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, rather than the Department of Labor, and individual states must apply to participate.

FEMA has received 35 state applications as of Aug. 27 to join the scheme, but only a handful of states have begun disbursing the cash as local officials are not accustomed to working with a new agency with new rules and reporting requirements.

Unemployment benefits in the U.S. are determined on a state-by-state basis. The overall value of federal jobless benefits has fallen to USD48 billion between Aug. 1 and Aug. 27 from USD93 billion between July 1 and July 27.