Kentucky’s application for additional federal money to aid unemployed Kentuckians has been approved.
Governor Andy Beshear said Kentucky is the first state in the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Region 4 to be approved through the agency’s Lost Wages Program to give $400 to unemployment insurance claimants.
The governor says, “This program will allow about 80,000 Kentuckians receiving at least $100 a week unemployment benefits for the weeks of July 26-August 15 to receive an additional payment of $400, if they are unemployed or partially unemployed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
One hundred dollars of that amount will come from the state and 300 from the federal government. The state money is coming from the CARES Act.
The governor noted the federal government originally provided an additional $600 to those facing job loss. That program ended without a replacement by the U.S. Congress. Then on Aug. 8, President Donald Trump signed a memorandum seeking to extend some additional benefits to Americans whose jobs have been harmed or eliminated by the global pandemic.
While the application is approved, reconfiguring the computer systems to pay the $400 is likely to take about two weeks. Benefits recipients should not expect the payments until sometime in early September.