Donald Trump’s administration is threatening to withdraw federal funding for unemployment assistance in all 50 states as part of the president’s nationwide campaign against ā€œfraudā€ in government spending.

In a letter to the governors of 53 states and territories, acting Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling warned that the federal government would use ā€œevery available toolā€ to combat ā€œwaste, fraud and abuseā€ within state-run unemployment insurance programs, including ā€œwithholding administrative funds from statesā€ for the first time in history.

There is no single national program for unemployment support, though the federal government partners with state agencies to support temporary financial assistance to out-of-work Americans. Nearly 2 million people are currently receiving those benefits, while roughly 229,000 people are filing initial jobless claims every week, according to the Labor Department.

  • WatDabney@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    2 months ago

    Kick people off unemployment = they don’t count as unemployed.

    Hmm…

    Yes - this is true. And it’s essentially 100% guaranted that unemployment, measured honestly, is going nowhere but up.

    And with the midterms coming up…

    Yes - this seems more likely to be the primary motivation.

    • DokPsy@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      It’s the financial version of ā€œif we stop counting COVID deaths, the numbers will go downā€