Some 30 states had been accepted into Trump's Lost Wages Assistance grant program as of Monday evening, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which is administering it. However, few states have begun distributing that money to jobless residents, since they have to implement new protocols to do so. But the average will be three weeks from August 8 since states are already moving to adjust their systems, the agency said. FEMA said it will initially send states three weeks of funding and then make additional disbursements until the $44 billion allotment runs out. But after cash-strapped states complained, the Department of Labor said they could count their existing unemployment payments toward the required match and most are doing so.

Source: CNN August 25, 2020 11:03 UTC