Report Finds That 182,000 Mainers Would Be Affected By Cuts To Supplemental Unemployment Benefits

The newest COVID-19 stimulus plan that Senate Republicans released Monday would cut supplemental unemployment benefits from $600 to $200 a week. That would impact about 182,000 Mainers, including 46,000 children.

That is according to an analysis of Census Bureau data, by the progressive think tank Maine Center For Economic Policy (MECEP).

James Myall is the author of that report. He says even with the extra $600 a week, many Mainers have already been struggling, “relying on credit cards, some were relying on borrowing from friends and family, about one in four of those folks receiving UI benefits have already missed their last mortgage or rental payment, and about one in three were worrying about whether they’d be able to make the next month’s payment as well.”

Click here to read the full story, first published July 29, 2020, in Maine Public.