California borrowed approximately $20 billion from the federal government to cover unemployment benefits during the pandemic, and with Gov. Gavin Newsom’s recent decision to not pay it back, employers are now saddled with the expense, according to experts.
“The state should have taken care of the loans with the COVID money it received from the government in 2021,” Marc Joffe, policy analyst at the Cato Institute—a public policy think tank headquartered in Washington, D. C.—told The Epoch Times.
In the proposed 2023–2024 budget, $750 million was allocated to start paying down the loans, but Newsom made changes to the plan in January and withdrew the funding.
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