Despite serious concerns about the unfairness of this new federal unemployment program, especially for the lowest income workers, the Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) announced it has submitted its application to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for the new federal Lost Wage Assistance (LWA) funds. Eligible Illinoisans will be able to access these funds, even though the federal government has created enormous uncertainty around how many weeks’ workers might receive payments. Under the new federal program, certain individuals unemployed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic may be eligible to receive an additional $300 per week to their weekly benefit amount (WBA). Most concerning, eligibility requirements for LWA leave behind the most vulnerable of Illinoisans. Unlike the FPUC program, in which claimants earning a minimum of a $1 WBA were entitled to the additional $600, LWA only allows claimants earning a minimum $100 WBA to receive the additional $300 to their benefit payments. This is projected to exclude approximately 55,000 low-income claimants from receiving this supplemental $300 unemployment benefit.