PORTLAND — Shawn Insall was serving as an audio engineer for a musical at Medford’s Craterian Theater in March when large events within the state were banned due to the coronavirus pandemic. The cast and crew learned during dress rehearsal that the musical had been canceled.

Five months later, Insall, like many in the live events industry, still doesn’t have a job to return to. Instead, Insall has been relying on unemployment insurance to support himself, his partner, Adreal, who is in school, and his four-year-old stepson. The couple has another baby on the way.

Insall said the extra $600 weekly federal unemployment benefit that Congress approved in March as part of the CARES Act was a lifeline for him and his family after he lost his job. But since the benefit expired at the end of July, Insall has been receiving just $200 per week in unemployment benefits, which isn’t close to enough to pay for his family’s basic expenses.

“It’s scary,” said Insall, 42. “I think in about a month if there isn’t some sort of resurgence in support, I’m going to be looking at bills that I’m not able to pay, whether it be diapers or normal week-to-week expenses. We’re already tightening the belt grocery-wise, cutting back on gas money.”

Insall is among more than 200,000 Oregonians who had their unemployment benefits cut by at least half at the end of July when the federal unemployment boost expired.

Congress has yet to come to an agreement to extend or replace the bonus, even though economists have warned that letting the benefits expire could lead to severe economic consequences. The Senate is now on recess until September, a sign that another coronavirus relief bill is likely weeks away.

In ordinary times, unemployment benefits are meant to keep laid-off workers afloat for a brief period until they find a new job. Congress approved the higher benefits in March in response to the extraordinary circumstances of the pandemic, which devastated numerous industries and left many people without job prospects.

Oregon’s unemployment rate was 11.2% in June, among the highest levels on record. The state reports July’s jobless figure Tuesday, Aug. 18.

After Congress failed to reach an agreement to replace the expired $600 unemployment boost earlier this month, President Donald Trump issued an executive order that would redirect $44 billion in disaster relief funds to fund a $300 per week federal unemployment bonus. The order said that states could use their own money to fund an additional $100 weekly bonus.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which is administering the new program, said Monday that states that are approved would receive initial grants for three weeks of benefits, and could receive more on a week-to-week basis until the money runs out.

It will likely take until the end of the month before states begin paying out the new benefit, according to FEMA.

It also remains unclear when, or if, Oregon will pay out the benefit. David Gerstenfeld, interim head of the Oregon Employment Department, said last week that the state needed more clarity from the federal government on how the program would work before committing to its implementation. Oregon’s employment department relies on an ancient computer system, which could also impact how quickly it is able to implement the new system.

In the meantime, tens of thousands of Oregonians have been left wondering how they will pay their rent, utility bills and weekly expenses without the enhanced unemployment benefits they depended on.

“It took away the daily gnawing stress of, ‘How am I going to survive?’” said Eric Wright, a Portland disk jockey.

Wright, who has spent 30 years building his career, is usually booked solid working at weddings and other events throughout the year, especially during the summer months. But he has not had a paying gig since the end of February.

Wright, 59, applied for unemployment benefits for the first time in his life in March. It took until April for him to start receiving payments as the employment department struggled to keep up with a flood of new claims. His payments then mysteriously stopped again in May. He applied for food stamps, dipped into his retirement savings and borrowed from family members to continue to pay his bills.

For Wright and many other Oregonians who have struggled to receive payments they are owed, the issues at the employment department have outweighed concerns over the expiration of the $600 federal unemployment boost.

But while Wright expects the unemployment checks that he is owed by the state to show up eventually, he isn’t sure how he will get by if the unemployment bonus isn’t extended. Even with the bonus, Wright was making significantly less than what he made before the pandemic and was just barely meeting his basic expenses. Now, he is looking at a weekly check of just $274.

“It’s the difference between paying my bills and stomach-aching everyday wondering, ‘Am I going to lose the house?” Wright said. “I will try everything in my power not to let that happen, but it’s a definite possibility.”

Trump’s executive order could bring some short-term relief to Wright and other Oregonians, if Oregon is able to implement the new program. But the funds FEMA has to enact the program are finite and legislative action would still be needed to provide a longer-term solution for unemployed individuals.

“Donald Trump also said workers would receive benefits through the end of the year, but only three weeks of funding will be provided up front,” said Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, in a statement Aug. 17. “If after three weeks, FEMA determines it needs the money to respond to a disaster, for example, nearly 30 million unemployed workers are simply out of luck. I will continue to push to pass legislation to reinstate the $600 federal boost.”

Talks in Congress broke down earlier this month as Democrats pushed to extend the $600 benefit until the end of the year and Republicans proposed cutting the bonus to ensure that workers couldn’t make more through unemployment insurance than at their regular jobs.

Several Oregonians that spoke with The Oregonian/OregonLive said that even a reduced weekly bonus would still make a huge difference as they continue to navigate the pandemic. Seeing Congress fail to reach any compromise was infuriating, they said.

As the negotiations in Congress dragged on earlier this month, Wright had to stop watching the news. He couldn’t stand hearing the partisan bickering as he and others desperately waited for relief.

Rachael Pruitt, 67, also struggled to understand how negotiations could break down with the livelihoods of so many individuals at stake.

Pruitt, a substitute teacher in Eugene, was receiving unemployment benefits until mid-June when Oregon paused unemployment payments to all school employees for the summer months. Pruitt usually teaches in the summer and expects she will ultimately be paid for those weeks once her claim goes through adjudication.

But she remains concerned about what she will do this fall if the unemployment bonus is not extended. Pruitt said she has pre-existing health conditions that would make it unsafe for her to return to the classroom amid the pandemic. Even if she felt safe returning to in-person teaching, her job as a substitute might not be available as many school districts continue with remote learning.

The $600 bonus enabled Pruitt, who also receives some income through Social Security, to pay her bills, and even put some money in her savings. Without the extra benefit, Pruitt said she will still be able to cover her rent, but won’t have enough money left over to meet her other expenses.

She worries that others will be left in even more dire situations, if Congress doesn’t act.

“They just don’t get it,” Pruitt said. “People are going hungry. People are losing their houses. These are people that have worked hard all their lives and have built a life, and it’s been taken away.”

This article was originally published by the Oregonian/OregonLive, one of more than a dozen news organizations throughout the state sharing their coverage of the novel coronavirus outbreak to help inform Oregonians about this evolving heath issue.