Multiple helpful programs need to be renewed before the end of the year.
Angela Lang/CNET
The Nov. 3 election results could alter the timetable on when Americans will see more stimulus money. Whether it happens sooner or later is crucial for the survival of multiple programs intended to financially help those affected by the pandemic.
President Donald Trump wants a plan that could renew the extra unemployment benefits that expired July 31 “immediately” after the elections, he said Oct. 30. That’s at odds with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s desire to wait until January 2021.
“I think that’ll be something we’ll need to do right at the beginning of the year,” McConnell said. He didn’t mention a second stimulus check for individuals and families or more unemployment assistance.
The March CARES Act, which authorized the first $1,200 stimulus check and the $600 weekly unemployment bonus, assisted hundreds of millions of Americans who were unemployed or in financial need when the pandemic first took root. In August, Trump signed four executive actions intended to extend some of these programs to some degree. But all of the most significant coronavirus relief programs are set to expire on Dec. 31, 2020, setting the stage for a tangle of financial issues starting on the first day of the new year, including an expected uptick in people filing for personal bankruptcy.
Keep reading to learn the major programs that are set to end.
Read more: You don’t have to be a US citizen living in America to get a stimulus check
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Next stimulus checks: What to expect
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Unemployment benefits
Individual states handle unemployment insurance claims, determining if a person is eligible, how much they receive and for how long they can collect. Though it varies from state to state, the CARES Act extended the duration of benefits from 26 weeks to 39 weeks. Starting on Jan. 1, those additional 13 weeks provided by the federal government are gone.
Some states have already backfilled the void on their own, including increasing their benefit period up to 59 weeks, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Others, including Alabama, Arkansas and Utah, haven’t taken action on it, which could leave unemployed workers in those states without assistance as the new year begins.
Read more: Coronavirus unemployment: Who is covered, how to apply and how much it pays
The Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program
Another initiative of the CARES Act, the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program, also known as PUA, provided economic relief to those who wouldn’t typically qualify for unemployment: self-employed workers, contractors and gig workers. At the moment, the PUA is set to end on Dec. 31. If the federal government doesn’t extend it, it will be up to the states to determine whether they can step in on Jan. 1.
$300 weekly unemployment benefit bonus
The average weekly unemployment benefit doesn’t always equal a worker’s earnings, typically running between $300 and $600. To help fill the gap, the CARES Act added a weekly unemployment benefit bonus of $600. When that bonus expired on July 31, Trump signed an executive memo paving the way for a $300 weekly bonus (for a six-week period) with the expectation that Congress would soon pass another relief package. That hasn’t happened, and most states have exhausted the six weeks of extra funding. The $300 bonus provision is set to end on Dec. 27, according to the president’s memo, and is expected to sunset unused.
Can Congress piece these programs back together before more damage is done? It’s a waiting game.
CNET
Eviction protection
The CARES Act provided limited protection on evictions by only focusing on homes backed with a federal mortgage loan or households that received some type of federal funding. The protections were then expanded in September by the Center for Disease Control, which called for a halt on evictions. Although this order by the agency did cover more households, including renters in 43 million households, it also has an expiration date of Dec. 31.
Student loan deferment
Students who are paying off federal student loans also received a reprieve from the CARES Act, which gave them the option to defer their loan payments (and which paused the accrual of interest) until the end of September 2020. In August, Trump extended the deferment until Dec. 31. On Jan. 1, loan servicers will once again be able to charge interest on these loans and students may have to resume paying them off unless the servicers offer deferment options.
For more information, here’s the latest status of stimulus negotiations, and here’s everything we know about the next relief bill.