Kansas hasn’t committed to Trump aid plan. It ‘may not even be legal,’ official says

When President Donald Trump this weekend unveiled a legally dubious effort to effectively restart an expired federal aid program for unemployed workers, it set off a wave of uncertainty among Kansas officials, who haven’t committed to participating.

Kansas’s antiquated unemployment system has struggled under a historic crush of claims as workers lost their job due to the COVID-19 pandemic. For much of the spring, call volumes overwhelmed limited staff and technology dating to the 1970s hampered the delivery of benefits.

The Kansas Department of Labor, which saw its top leader replaced this summer, has largely stabilized the situation. Long-term improvements are in the works.

But after Trump’s announcement, which came in the form of a memorandum, KDOL may have to decide whether to scramble to relaunch a program that delivered more than $1 billion in benefits to 209,000 Kansas residents.

The state’s top labor official — appointed by Gov. Laura Kelly — is treading gingerly.

“As we evaluate this memo, we must also take into account that we are dealing with legacy IT systems and limited resources,” Ryan Wright, acting Kansas secretary of labor, said in a statement.

Wright said that if KDOL diverts those resources “to try and implement a plan that may not be permanent and may not even be legal, it could ultimately prevent Kansans receiving those benefits in a timely manner when a more permanent solution is just around the corner if Congress acts.”

Missouri also hasn’t committed to enacting Trump’s proposal. Delores Rose, a spokeswoman for the Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, said in an email that the state is waiting for detailed guidance from the federal government.

“Once Missouri receives those details, we will work as expeditiously as possible to determine what actions are the most beneficial for all Missourians,” Rose wrote.

The now expired program, called Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation, provided recipients $600 a week on top of their regular unemployment benefits. The additional cash further softened the blow for laid off workers. In some cases, workers made more under the program than they did at their jobs.

Trump’s memo calls for effectively restarting the program at $400 a week. This time, Kansas and other states would have to contribute $100 of the amount, however.

The costs to Kansas would quickly add up. The state would be responsible for about $10 million a week if 100,000 people participate — a large burden after Gov. Laura Kelly has already made cuts to balance the state budget. Roughly 96,000 people filed initial or continuing unemployment claims last week.

KDOL didn’t directly answer how it would pay the state’s share. Trump’s memo suggests states use federal coronavirus relief funding “or other state funding” to provide benefits.

Wright emphasized that the memo is “broad” and a lot is left to learn about the specifics. Kansas families, he said, “are hurting and need as much certainty right now as possible.” He called on Congress to approve a permanent solution.

Even with funding, KDOL would also have to update the programming on its old computer systems, a process that could take weeks. Prior to Trump’s announcement, Wright told state legislators last week that reinstating the program with a flat dollar amount other than $600 would require about two weeks to implement.

A more complicated formula based on salary or other variables would take upwards of two months to get up and running, he said.

Trump’s effort to restart the expired weekly benefit program, coming in the final stretch of his re-election campaign, is almost certain to be met with legal challenges. Under the U.S. Constitution, Congress has power over federal spending.

Lawmakers have so far been unable to reach an agreement on a new round of coronavirus relief. Talks between the White House, Republican and Democratic leaders have stalled.

Reaction among legislators to Trump’s memo illustrates the larger struggle over relief legislation.

Rep. Ron Estes, a Republican who represents the Wichita area, said the president’s actions are intended to help workers and families and “fill the void” left by Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Chuck Schumer, the Senate Democratic Leader.

“It’s unfortunate that Democrats in Congress have exploited hurting families in Kansas and throughout the country as political pawns to negotiate their $3 trillion partisan wish list, most of which is not related to COVID-19,” Estes said in a statement.

Rep. Sharice Davids, a Democrat representing the Kansas side of the Kansas City metro area, said in a statement that instead of working with Congress to reach a deal, Trump announced actions that “do not come close to meeting the scale of the crisis we’re facing.”

“People are struggling without expanded unemployment insurance or housing support, but it’s far from clear that anyone can get more help under the Administration’s proposal. Meanwhile, the plan threatens to defund Social Security and Medicare at a time when people need them both more than ever,” Davids said, referring to a separate Trump plan to defer payment of federal payroll taxes, which fund the two programs.

Across the border in Kansas City, Mo., Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver said Trump’s action, “legality notwithstanding, fall far short of the fiscal stimulus needed to match the challenges facing the American public.”

At an event in Salina on Monday, Republican Sen. Jerry Moran said Trump is “forcing the hand” of Congress to get lawmakers to do “what needs to be done,” according to audio provided by his office.

“That’s a good thing,” he said.

The Associated Press contributed reporting

This story was originally published August 11, 2020 at 3:32 PM.