More than a dozen GOP-led states are ending federal unemployment benefits early
12 May 2021
At least 12 Republican-led states have announced they are terminating their involvement in federal pandemic-related unemployment programs early.
Driving the news: Many of the states' governors cited worker shortages. But some experts say it's the job climate, including pandemic-era factors, and not unemployment benefits that is determining when and how people return to work.
- The federal assistance programs, which include extra $300-a-week payments, are set to expire on Sept. 6.
- The pandemic-era programs also offer unemployment to those typically ineligible, including gig workers.
The states that have announced an end to the federal COVID-related benefits include:
- Alabama, effective June 19
- Arkansas, effective June 26
- Idaho, effective June 19
- Iowa, effective June 12
- Mississippi, effective June 12
- Missouri, effective June 12
- Montana, effective June 27
- The state will instead offer one-time $1,200 return-to-work bonuses to workers who accept jobs and complete a month of paid work.
- North Dakota, effective June 19
- South Carolina, effective June 30
- South Dakota, effective June 26
- Tennessee, effective July 3
- Utah, effective June 26
- Wyoming, effective June 19
Our thought bubble, via Axios' Courtenay Brown: The floodgates are open. While policymakers and economists spar over whether generous jobless benefits are keeping would-be workers at home, more and more states are moving ahead to cut them off.
Go deeper:States enter the unemployment fray
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.