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What you need to know:Tracking the Unprecedented Food Crisis Brought on by Covid-19

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Food Bank Already Under Strain From End of Higher Unemployment Aid

Residents in vehicles wait in line at a food distribution site in El Paso, Texas. — Residents in vehicles wait in line at a food distribution site in El Paso, Texas.
Photographer: Joel Angel Juarez/Bloomberg

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August 10, 2020, 6:33 PM UTC

President Donald Trump’s executive action may have kept higher U.S. unemployment benefits in place for now, but potential payment delays and a cap on the funds could still leave low-income Americans in the lurch.

Trump sought to bypass a deadlocked Congress by ordering payments of $400 a week, a reduction from the $600 federal top-up that was approved in March and ran out at the end of July. The extra money has helped millions of U.S. households get through the pandemic amid a record wave of layoffs.