South Dakota Declines To Boost Unemployment Payments Under Trump's Order
Last edited Sat Aug 15, 2020, 07:54 PM - Edit history (1)
Source: Washington Post
By Tony Romm, 1 hr ago.
An order signed by President Trump to boost unemployed workers' weekly benefits will not deliver any new aid to South Dakota, where Republican Gov. Kristi L. Noem appeared to become the first state leader to decline the heightened federal support.
Noem, one of Trump's most vocal allies, said South Dakota did not need to accept the additional federal jobless aid because workers in the state are being rehired, and its economy is on the mend, even as the coronavirus pandemic continues to rage across the United States.
Under Trump's order, the federal government aims to divert billions of dollars in federal disaster assistance to out-of-work Americans, adding at least $300 more to their weekly benefit amounts -- and more if states put up additional financing of their own. The program is supposed to offer a brief, temporary respite after the $600 payments that millions of workers had received regularly expired at the end of July.
But Trump's order has set off a scramble among states, which have faulted it as financially and technically unworkable in the absence of a more lasting solution from Congress. Amid the turmoil, Noem said Friday she opted to forgo the money in South Dakota entirely, claiming the state had recovered roughly 80 percent of its pandemic-related job losses...
Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/south-dakota-declines-to-boost-unemployment-payments-under-trump-s-order/ar-BB1809ed?ocid=msedgdhp
In a statement Noem said, "My administration is very grateful for the additional flexibility that this effort would have provided, but South Dakota is in the fortunate position of not needing to accept it." Noem also noted that the state never shut down in response to a COVID-19 outbreak. The reality is much more complicated according to labor econmists and unemployment experts who say that since Februrary the total number of confirmed cases in S.D. recently surpassed 10,000.
The state's overall unemployment rate is about 7.2 %, a gap in indicators that may reflect the reality that some people out of work are having a hard time obtaining adequate safety-net support. Approximately 20,000 people there are currently collecting jobless benefits. Michele Evermore, senior policy analyst at the National Employment Law Center, said the number is not relevant in some ways: "If you're an unemployed person in South Dakota, it's not going to matter to you there aren't a lot of unemployed people."
Presently, dozens of states across the country say they are still waiting for critical guidance from the White House over the president's order signed last weekend...
- President Donald Trump appears with Gov. Kristi L. Noem in Sioux Falls, S.D., Sept. 7, 2018.
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) Aug. 12, 2020-- South Dakota officials said Wednesday they plan to build a security fence budgeted for $400,000 around the official governor's residence to protect Gov. Kristi Noem. Noem's office did not give specifics on any threats, but her spokeswoman Maggie Seidel said her security team recommended the fence. Noem's administration had proposed the fence last year, but she abandoned the plan. Noem, a Republican has championed a hands-off approach to managing the coronavirus crisis. She also raised her national political profile in the past year, including tying herself more closely to President Trump, who spoke at Mount Rushmore on the eve of Independence Day this year. Seidel said that Noem's handling of the pandemic had put her at odds with some people.
'In America, we debate issues; we don't turn to violence,' Seidel said. 'But it only takes one, and per the Governor's security team, putting up a fence around the residence is critical at this time.' Noem has become a frequent guest on Fox News as she has staked out controversial positions on the pandemic, frequently downplaying the danger of the coronavirus and welcoming large gatherings in her state. Most recently, she welcomed one of the largest gatherings of people since the pandemic began, the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. She has also argued that schools should reopen this fall and pushed back against requirements to wear masks..
https://www.dailyherald.com/article/20200812/news/308129904/
= new reply since forum marked as read
She is so far up tRUMPS ass! 
has a larger population than the entire state of South Dakota. 
Just sayin'.
Yet they get 2 Senators, the same as California who has about 45 times the population. Makes sense, right?
