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Trump’s management ordered the reopening of Native American reserves. The California director of fitness has resigned. The pandemic has sicked more than 20 million people, according to a Times database.
On Monday, U.S. governors struggled to comply with President Trump’s order that his economically beaten states pay billions more unemployment to unemployed residents.
Democrats harshly criticized Trump’s order, which he signed Saturday night after talks with Congress about a new pandemic program were interrupted. But even Republican governors said the order might limit their budgets and feared that tens of millions of unemployed Americans would take weeks to start collecting the benefits.
Congress first provided another $600 a week for unemployment to have merit when the coronavirus pandemic closed much of the United States in March. But that merit expired on July 31, after talks between the White House and Congress failed. Republicans had pushed for an additional $400 on merit, Democrats said it wasn’t enough, so on Saturday, Trump ordered the $400 to get merit, but said it depended on the states providing $100 through themselves.
New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo told reporters Monday that Trump’s order would charge his state around $4 billion until the end of the year, making it little more than a fantasy. He said no New Yorker would see higher unemployment because of the president.
“It just makes a bad scenario worse,” Cuomo said. “When you are in a hole, avoid digging. This executive order only digs the deepest hole.”
His comments were echoed through Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat like Cuomo, who said Trump’s order would charge his state $1.5 billion until the end of the year.
“This is feasible in its current form,” Beshear said. “It’s something virtually no state can afford.”
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