US schools still have federal money to spend 1:06
(CNN) -
Summer is over, and with it the hope that a return to pre-pandemic "normalcy" is on the horizon.
Back-to-school has been interrupted by COVID-19 quarantines for thousands of children and return to work has been delayed for millions of workers, as fall brings new anxieties about more resistant coronavirus mutations and how to balance the need. emerging vaccine booster with the still great need for more people to receive their initial doses.
And for millions, things got a lot more difficult.
The historic 18-month streak of improved unemployment benefits has ended nationwide, just after the Supreme Court rejected President Joe Biden's effort to extend the moratorium on evictions due to the pandemic, leaving tenants at risk to unless Congress acts.
Americans will have to live with this new normal pandemic as the stilts the government built to support Americans during the pandemic collapse, though Democrats are simultaneously pushing longer-term agenda items that would rebuild the economy to provide better support for low-income workers.
This Labor Day saw an average of 300% more new cases of covid-19 than last year in the United States.
Additional unemployment benefits ended.
Lawmakers aren't talking about extending them, and no state has accepted Biden's offer to use federal aid funds.
Almost 11 million people are affected, according to CNN's Tami Luhby, who exposes data compiled by the Century Foundation:
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More than 8 million people are now left without unemployment compensation at all.
Another 2.7 million lost the federal weekly boost of $ 300, but will continue to receive state payments.
About 2.7 million Americans were already deprived of some or all of their benefits in June or July after two dozen states chose to terminate at least one of the programs early.
There are 10 million job openings in the US
Turning off the unemployment spigot might not lead to a huge increase in new hires, Luhby writes.
Many people focus on parenting.
Others are concerned about contracting or spreading the disease.
CNN solicited information from people outside the job market and got hundreds of responses.
Luhby shared some of his stories.
Read them here in Spanish.
Find nurses.
One sector struggling to find workers is nursing, as overwhelmed hospitals seek higher wages and incentives.
CNN's Jacqueline Howard looks at a niche within nursing: school nurses, who could be a key first line of defense as school districts bring children into the classroom but hope to deal with covid-19 outbreaks.
ANALYSIS |
The next few weeks will define Biden's presidency and shape the midterm elections.
Money for schools.
One place where money is not running out yet is in special covid-19 funding for schools.
Congress authorized $ 190 billion for American schools, and many billions have not been spent.
The funds were the equivalent of six years of funding, and schools have several years to spend it all.
20% should go to addressing learning loss, but schools have a lot of leeway over the rest, writes Katie Lobosco:
The Detroit public school district, for example, plans to use covid relief funds to give teachers a one-time bonus, provide tutoring, expand mental health services, make facility improvements, and reduce class sizes. hiring more teachers.
But not all the proposed uses can be justified. The Illinois State Board of Education recently rejected a district's plan to use covid relief dollars for an artificial surface on its soccer field.
One place where schools have no other option is vaccines.
Children under the age of 12 are not eligible for vaccination, and the FDA has not given a firm timeline for when they will be.
There is a similar, but perhaps shorter, timeline for booster vaccines, which Biden had said could begin on Sept. 20, but have not gotten FDA approval.
The year of protection against eviction has ended.
It is not yet clear how many evictions will actually occur, writes CNN's Anna Bahney.
"Eviction requests are expected to increase, but it remains to be seen how backward the courts are and how effective the remaining scraps of state and local protections will be in keeping tenants in place until they get rent relief," he writes. .
The government's efforts to prevent evictions and keep property owners intact have been a bureaucratic mess as states were asked to distribute federal dollars.
The US Supreme Court blocked the latest moratorium on evictions.
Here's what Biden's management does to help at-risk tenants
Of the $ 46 billion that Congress appropriated for emergency rental assistance payments, only $ 5.1 billion has been spent.
If that money starts to flow, it could delay a wave of evictions.
Several states also have their own eviction moratorium.
For now, homeowners are breathing in relief that the federal ban, first implemented a year ago by the US Centers for Disease Control and Protection (CDC), has ended.
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