Texas, Indiana and Oklahoma to drop $300 weekly federal boost to unemployment benefits

Texas, Indiana and Oklahoma will end early the $300 weekly federal boost to state unemployment payments, as well as two other pandemic jobless benefits programs, according to the states' Republican governors -- joining 17 other GOP-led states in dropping the federal expanded benefits over the past two weeks.

The three states' announcements on Monday mean that a total of nearly 3.7 million laid-off Americans will lose jobless payments in June or July instead of early September, according to an analysis by The Century Foundation. These workers will forgo a total of nearly $22 billion in benefits. Republican governors have cited workforce shortages and the improving economy as the reasons behind their decisions. They argue that the generous benefits -- which Congress first approved in its massive coronavirus relief plan in March 2020 and extended twice since -- are keeping Americans from returning to the labor market.