Governor Kathy Hochul rallied with the Hotel and Gaming Trades Council (HGTC) to announce New York State has paid off the nearly $7 billion Federal Unemployment Insurance (UI) Trust Fund loan - a move that will bring the fund to solvency, increase benefits for unemployed New Yorkers and cut costs to businesses. The Governor announced this action back in May as part of the Fiscal Year 2026 Enacted Budget. Said the Governor: “These are really tough times for our people. And when we can do something like this, it sends a message that we care so deeply about every stress that people are going through, especially the high cost of living. It is oppressive. It is so discouraging because you work hard and many of you came from immigrant parents or grandparents or yourselves. I'm saving that for a rainy day. And all of a sudden I declared. It's raining. It's raining. It's time to make sure that if people are on Strike or unemployed, lose their job – ($869) a week. That's how we lift people up. And I'm going to continue because we have a long road ahead, but I'll tell you, we're all New Yorkers. There's nobody tougher than us, right? We are strong, we're resilient, and all these policies outta Washington scarier than hell.”

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