BOCA RATON, Fla. — New help from Congress could soon be on the way with stimulus checks going out before the new year begins.
“It’s hard to pay some bills right now and I had to cut back on a lot of things,” said Robert Nobrega, who lost his hotel job in Boca Raton last spring.
Nobrega has been getting by, he said, on the federal help to his weekly state unemployment benefits, which under the new plan will be cut from $600 to $300 a week.
“We were getting that 600 which was huge boost to what I needed to get by right now and 300 is not going to cut it for me,” Nobrega said.
“Everybody is still upset, everybody I talk to is upset about it, nobody is happy about it,” says Amit Knightly, who hosts a local radio show on fixing unemployment issues.
Knightly said months of delays in a new stimulus plan have left many hurting.
Mark Hamrick, senior economist at bankrate.com says the $600 one-time payment and the federal supplement to unemployment will help, but it’s far from a solution.
“What I think what we’re doing right now is applying a bandage to the wounded economy and some people will see this as a bridge to whatever comes next,” Hamrick said.