HARRISBURG, Pa. — The $600 in CARES Act payments for people collecting unemployment benefits have come to an end on July 25th. It's still up in the air if or how Congress will extend the payments in any capacity.
People collecting UC benefits now worry about what the coming weeks will be like now that the extra $600 has ended.
"Without the extra $600, I don't know how I'm going to pay bills," said Sabrina Fagley, unemployed since March 16th. "I have a mortgage just like everybody else. The unemployment really helped because without the extra $600 I'm only making 1/3 of what I was bringing home."
Many people collecting UC benefits know the road ahead is going to be a struggle without the CARES Act payments.
"It's going to be very, very difficult for a lot of people to make ends meet," said Charis Leos, a professional actress living in Cumberland County.
Leos works in regional theaters and in New York City. She knows she won't be able to go back to work until at least 2021.
"It's not like I lost a job at one place, I can go work in another," said Leos. "The entire industry is shut down."
She says without the extra $600 per week, people who are unemployed are going to be put in a very tough situation.
"Unemployment is great and helpful but that extra money is really what has allowed people to realistically make a house payment, a car payment, grocery shop," said Leos.
As Congress decides if, at all, to continue funding extra weekly payments for people collecting unemployment, the State Department of Labor and Industry says, if Congress goes away from a flat rate and to a percentage or means test, it could be some time until people see the extra payments again.
"We've received over 3 million claims and to follow the letter of the law, depending on what it says, we may have to review all those claims individually," said Dept. of L&I Secretary Jerry Oleksiak. "It could take months."