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NEW ORLEANS - This week, District "D" Councilmember Jared Brossett will be introducing a resolution he authored that requests the reinstatement of federal enhanced unemployment benefits. With the rise of the Delta variant, Louisiana is faced with its highest case numbers and hospitalizations since January, and over 152,000 throughout the state are unemployed.
In June, Governor John Bel Edwards signed a bill into law that effectively ended the $300-a-week supplementary federal unemployment assistance at the end of July. During the legislative session, members and several business owners stated that increased benefits had resulted in workers stopping looking for jobs. Afterward, lawmakers and the governor worked out a last-minute deal to permanently increase the State's regular unemployment benefits by $28 per week beginning in January of 2022.
“The State of Louisiana has cut people off from benefits they desperately need just as the pandemic reaches new heights,” said Councilmember Brossett. “Louisiana taxpayers are paying their fair share of the enhanced federal unemployment benefits, but they have been stopped from seeing the returns. We have to do everything we can to fight COVID-19, and that means making sure people who cannot work amid this crisis have money to pay rent and to put food on the table. It’s time to give our people the benefits they deserve.”
Resolution R-316 will be brought before the Council for a vote at the next meeting on Thursday, August 19.
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