With the federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program set to expire at the end of the month, DC is planning to send $1,200 checks to District residents who filed for PUA as of November 30. Those who would benefit include self-employed individuals, those seeking part-time employment, individuals lacking sufficient work history, independent contractors, gig-economy workers, and those who have exhausted their benefit eligibility in both unemployment insurance and Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation. The District would begin distributing the checks in the coming weeks.
DC Mayor Muriel Bowser announced in a press conference today that she expects roughly 20,000 Washingtonians will receive the stimulus, which will come out of the city’s CARES funding—i.e., the federal stimulus package passed in March. DC, along with every other state and local government, is anxious for more federal dollars that have been trapped in a Congressional gridlock, as are many Americans who haven’t received any aid past the $1,200 checks sent out in April.
There’s reportedly a compromise stimulus bill currently being discussed in Congress that could extend the PUA program, but given the partisan divide between the chambers and the seeming preoccupation of the President with contesting election results, there’s no guarantee anyone will see any federal dollars before the end of the year.
Jane is a Chicago transplant who now calls Cleveland Park her home. Before joining Washingtonian, she wrote for Smithsonian Magazine and the Chicago Sun-Times. She is a graduate of Northwestern University, where she studied journalism and opera.
