Survey: States uncommitted to Trump's unemployment boost

Many governors say the costs to states to receive the bigger boost offered by Trump is more than their battered budgets can bear. They also say the federal government’s guidelines on how it will work are too murky. Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, called it a “convoluted, temporary, half-baked concept (that) has left many states, including Pennsylvania, with more questions.”…

Governors from both parties have been pushing for Congress to make a deal, even after previous talks for a sweeping new coronavirus relief bill, including an unemployment boost, broke off earlier this month.

When Congress finally reaches an agreement, “I have every reason to believe … there will be a more robust deal that is struck,” said Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican who has been noncommittal about accepting Trump’s plan.

One reason for the states’ hesitancy is that they fear they will go through the complex steps required to adopt Trump’s plan, only to have it usurped by one from Congress, according to a spokeswoman for Republican Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon.