(Elaine Thompson - Pool/Getty Images)
(OLYMPIA, Wash.) Accusing President Donald Trump of holding federal relief "hostage," Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said the state will cover the cost of extending a single round of federal COVID-19 unemployment benefits for Washingtonians, after Trump allowed them to lapse.
Inslee announced Sunday that the state would allocate $54 million to provide one round of $550 payments to 94,555 state residents, covering the payments they would have received under the federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program. The federal benefits lapsed when Trump allowed a midnight deadline to pass without acting on a proposed extension.
"We are providing a bridge for some Washingtonians until the federal government finally acts," Inslee said, according to a press release issued by his office Sunday morning. "The president has chosen to hold the entire relief package hostage."
Inslee's move represents the state stepping into a gap left by Trump's refusal to sign a $900 billion stimulus package passed by Congress that would have extended benefits including the PUA payments, as well as reduced payments to individuals and families.
Without Trump's signature, the federal benefits lapsed Dec. 27.
Celebrated by lawmakers from both parties, the proposed federal relief package looked set to break a months-long impasse when it passed both houses of Congress on Monday, Dec. 21.
But on Tuesday Trump criticized the proposal harshly, saying in a video posted to Twitter that it provided too little for families and businesses.
"Congress found plenty of money for foreign countries, lobbyists and special interest, while sending the bare minimum to the American people," Trump said, calling the bill a "disgrace."
Key benefits in the federal proposal, including direct stimulus payments, were set at half of earlier amounts.
The package would have authorized $600 direct stimulus payments. The previous relief bill, passed in March and called the CARES Act, provided direct payments of $1,200.
In his Tuesday video, Trump said he wouldn't approve the package, and proposed $2,000 payments instead.
On Wednesday, House Democrats introduced a package containing the higher figure proposed by Trump - but it failed to reach a vote, and Senate Republicans declined to forward a modification to the package already on Trump's desk.