Statement on Enactment of the CARES Act

WASHINGTON - The National Association of State Workforce Agencies (NASWA) issued the following statement on the enactment of H.R. 748, the bipartisan stimulus bill, referred to as the CARES Act:

“We commend passage of the CARES Act that provides states new relief options to help our nation’s workers and employers during this unprecedented time. States are working tremendously hard to handle the unparalleled influx of unemployment insurance claims and process these benefits. To address this new workload, some states have begun staggering claims filing days, adding additional staff and fine-tuning their technology systems.

States have been reviewing the new unemployment insurance options included in the CARES Act and once provided with further instructions from the federal government, will work to implement them as quickly and efficiently as possible.

This and the previously enacted assistance measure that included investment for administration of state unemployment insurance programs are steps in the right direction. NASWA has advocated for increased funding to maintain base-level unemployment insurance services as part of our legislative priorities for the past several years. This funding is critical, particularly now.

As they did during the Great Recession of 2008-2009, our nation’s state workforce agencies will rise to meet the challenge. A comprehensive collection of state actions in response to COVID-19 is available at NASWA.org and updated daily.”