The Oregon Employment Department said Monday that it has begun paying a $300 weekly unemployment bonus that Congress authorized last month as part of a $900 billion coronavirus relief package.
Congress first approved a $600 weekly unemployment bonus last March. The program expired in July and was replaced briefly with a $300 weekly bonus from federal disaster funds.
That, too, lapsed, ending the supplemental payments while Congress was deadlocked over the scale of any additional relief program. Republicans and Democrats compromised on the $900 billion package at the end of last month and President Donald Trump – after decrying the congressional package – backed down and signed the bill on Dec. 27.
A day earlier, benefits had expired for 72,000 Oregonians who were receiving benefits through temporary programs for the self-employed or were on a program that extended their benefits eligibility. Congress extended most of those programs, too.
The employment department, relying on an obsolete computer system, was unable to pay benefits to hundreds of thousands of jobless Oregonians during the early months of the pandemic. But the new payments funded last month simply restore programs that had lapsed and payments are flowing much more smoothly this time.
However, the employment department warned last week that some more complicated programs may require additional computer programming that could delay benefits to about 1,500 self-employed Oregonians nearing the end of their 46 weeks of eligibility.
Congress funded the new, $300 weekly benefits through March 13.
-- Mike Rogoway | mrogoway@oregonian.com | twitter: @rogoway |