Second Stimulus: Unemployment Benefits End as Current Aid Bill Remains in Limbo

On Saturday, the last of the unemployment benefits included in the CARES Act back in March expired, without a new stimulus check bill to replace them. President Donald Trump has still not signed the new stimulus bill as the coronavirus pandemic and the resultant economic recession worsen. Without a replacement for the programs lost this weekend, many Americans are more vulnerable than ever to financial ruin.

Congress passed a $900 billion stimulus plan last week after seven months of negotiations, only for Trump to take issue with it at the last moment. The president is now delaying the bill and he may be able to cancel it altogether, even as Americans grow more desperate than ever. According to a report by Business Insider, two federal unemployment programs expired at midnight on Saturday — the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, which is for gig workers and freelancers, and the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation, which is for people who have exhausted state benefits.

On top of that, Trump's delay has effectively cut a week off of the unemployment benefits included in the $900 billion bill. The package offers $300 a week in federal enhancement to normal unemployment checks, but it expires in mid-March. By holding the negotiations up for another week, Trump took that $300 away from workers.

Trump claims he is holding out for another vote in the House of Representatives on Monday, when lawmakers will make an emergency return to Washington, D.C. in the hopes of changing the $600 stimulus check into a $2,000 payment. However, Republicans have been scoffing at this sum since May, and the Trump administration helped craft this new compromise, so it is unclear why the president is upending the process with his last-minute demands.

"I simply want to get our great people $2,000, rather than the measly $600 that is now in the bill. Also, stop the billions of dollars in 'pork,'" Trump tweeted Saturday morning.

The stimulus bill passed the House and the United States Senate against all odds, but Trump is becoming an unexpected obstacle. If he were to veto the bill, Congress would have time to override the veto with an overwhelming majority. However, if he ignores it for 10 days, it could fail on a "pocket veto," according to a report by The Hill. That would leave the American people with no aid until at least late January, when President-elect Joe Biden takes office.