OESC Rushes To Provide Benefits Following Signing Of COVID-19 Relief Bill

The Oklahoma Employment Security Commission is rushing to provide unemployment benefits to Oklahomans after President Donald Trump signed the latest COVID-19 relief bill late on Sunday night.

While President Trump did prevent a government shutdown by signing the bill, it was not done in time to prevent unemployment benefits from lapsing.

The Oklahoma employment security commission shared a post on Facebook that said the commission is working quickly to get money out to unemployed Oklahomans after learning President Trump signed the federal unemployment relief package.

The bill will extend unemployment benefits for another 11 weeks and include an extra $300 a week on top of the amount already given.

Officials from the OESC said they are still waiting on specifics from the department of labor, but want to specify that anyone who has already filed unemployment claims this year does not need to file again, even if their benefits have already expired earlier in the year.

President Trump said in a partial statement, "I am signing this bill to restore unemployment benefits, stop evictions, provide rental assistance."

Since President trump waited to sign the bill until the payments had already lapsed, many people will likely not see any benefits this week, turning the 11 weeks of payments into ten weeks instead.