PORTLAND, Ore — Oregon is still deciding whether to apply for the federal government's new assistance for unemployed workers.
Through FEMA's lost wages supplemental payment assistance people would get between $300 and $400 per week, along with their unemployment benefits.
That extra boost would really help Oregonians who lost their job months ago when the state shut down - some of whom have been waiting on benefits since the beginning of the pandemic.
Jodi Webster was down to 63-cents in her bank account, and at her wits end.
"Probably the most stress and fear I've ever had of the unknown," Webster said.
That is, until last week, when she opened her mailbox to find a stack of 33 checks from the Oregon Employment Department.
"I wasn't ready to breathe again. I guess I had held my breath for so long," Webster said. "I didn't have a lot of faith, unfortunately, in the system because it's so broken. But it finally happened. And so I'm beyond thankful and grateful and happy."
She is now one of hundreds of thousands of Oregonians who have been paid after months of uncertainty.
"I'm still so far behind that it's going to take a large majority of what I've got to try to get caught up," she said.
But thousands are still waiting - many of them, like Tasie Hampton, since the beginning of the pandemic. A contract worker, she can't get through to someone who can handle her claim since she qualifies for different federal and state unemployment programs.
"I'm stuck in second gear and can't get to the next gear," Hampton said. "I just wish I could get the help I needed and talk to a manager, an upper-tier person."
Hampton uploads her claims weekly and documents everything.
"I'm going through all the steps, doing everything they're asking me to but never getting a final answer," Hampton added.
At this point she's lost her hopeful outlook.
"It's been pretty miserable," Hampton said. "The stress is so bad I'm not sleeping, I'm constantly worried about financials."
She doesn't feel confident the second round of financial assistance from the federal government could even help her should Oregon apply and get approved.
"If I qualify for that how am I going to get checks for that if I can't get checks for April?" Hampton said.
President Trump signed an executive measure after the $600 a week federal unemployment subsidies ran out.
Oregon Employment Department Acting Director David Gerstenfeld said in a media briefing Wednesday the boost would only last five weeks, cost the state and taxpayers money and take a while to implement with its current system.
"We don't want to be in a situation of doing our best to get a small benefit being offered now into people's hands now and that impeding our ability to get a more robust support system in place quickly if there is congressional action that's taken to provide additional support," Gerstenfeld said.
Gerstenfeld says the agency is still trying to figure out how it would get that money out to Oregonians.
"Before we get money to people we would need to know how to administer it," he explained. "Frankly, everything we're seeing about the approval process once a state submits an application is that goes quite quickly. So that is not barrier."
Oregon still has not waived the 'waiting week' for regular unemployment benefits and Director Gerstenfeld said it will take a lot of IT work in order to change its antiquated system and add that capability. He said the department is, however, dedicated to doing so within the coming months.