As another COVID-19 relief bill hangs in the balance, unemployment benefits for as many as 12 million Americans expired Saturday night, the day after Christmas.<\/p>\n
In Washington state, nearly 100,000 unemployed workers could lose their federal unemployment benefits known as PUA or Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.<\/p>\n
Bryan Fiehler is a classical singer and a conductor. He does a lot of work with local community and church choirs. When the pandemic hit in March, Fiehler said he lost 75 percent of his income.<\/p>\n
Like many other gig workers, contractors, or self-employed individuals, he counts on PUA.<\/p>\n
It has been a lifeline and helped pay for half of his rent in Seattle, according to Fiehler.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery little bit helps,\u201d said Fiehler.<\/p>\n
Without it, he\u2019s not sure what\u2019s going to happen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As another COVID-19 relief bill hangs in the balance, unemployment benefits for as many as 12 million Americans expired Saturday night, the day after Christmas. In Washington state, nearly 100,000 unemployed workers could lose their federal unemployment benefits known as PUA or Pandemic Unemployment Assistance. Bryan Fiehler is a classical singer and a conductor. He does a lot of work with local community and church choirs. When the pandemic hit in March, Fiehler said he lost 75 percent of his income. Like many other gig workers, contractors, or self-employed individuals, he counts on PUA. It has been a lifeline and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":2591,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"disable_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2590","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-the-news"],"yoast_head":"\n