Virginians on unemployment will get an extra $300 on top of what the state pays out.
Gov. Ralph Northam’s administration said this week that state is preparing to pay the extra benefit and is exploring ways to provide an additional $100 allowed under President Donald Trump’s executive order.
For months, on top of their state benefit, unemployed Virginians also collected $600 a week in federal jobless aid.
But that expired at the end of July, and negotiations in Congress to extend it have collapsed in rancor.
In response, Trump signed an executive order to provide $300 to $400 a week and Virginia is one of several states that will apply for the federal money.
In states that decide to pay out the $300, the government estimates it would take three weeks, on average, for the states to send the money to the unemployed.
And initially only enough money is being allotted to cover three weeks of payments. Even with subsequent grants, analysts estimate that there would be enough money to last only five or six weeks.
John Mangalonzo (john@localdailymedia.com) is the managing editor of Local Voice Media’s Virginia papers – WYDaily (Williamsburg), Southside Daily (Virginia Beach) and HNNDaily (Hampton-Newport News).
Before coming to Local Voice, John was the senior content editor of The Bellingham Herald, a McClatchy newspaper in Washington state. Previously, he served as city editor/content strategist for USA Today Network newsrooms in St. George and Cedar City, Utah.
John started his professional journalism career shortly after graduating from Lyceum of The Philippines University in 1990. As a rookie reporter for a national newspaper in Manila that year, John was assigned to cover four of the most dangerous cities in Metro Manila. Later that year, John was transferred to cover the Philippine National Police and Armed Forces of the Philippines. He spent the latter part of 1990 to early 1992 embedded with troopers in the southern Philippines as they fought with communist rebels and Muslim extremists. His U.S. journalism career includes reporting and editing stints for newspapers and other media outlets in New York City, California, Texas, Iowa, Utah, Colorado and Washington state.