The Texas Workforce Commission has applied for additional unemployment benefit funding, Gov. Greg Abbott announced in a news release Aug. 20.

If granted through President Donald Trump's Lost Wage Assistance Executive Order, this funding will provide an additional $300 per week in benefits for qualifying Texans receiving unemployment benefits.

“The Lost Wage Assistance program will provide crucial financial support to Texans who have lost their jobs due to the COVID-19 pandemic," Abbott said in the news release. "Texas is grateful to President Trump for making these funds available to individuals and asks that our federal partners quickly grant this request so that TWC can swiftly administer this funding to Texans."

Trump's executive order provides $300 a week in additional unemployment payments to claimants eligible for more than $100 of certain state unemployment benefits who are experiencing unemployment resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. Claimants receiving unemployment through the Texas Workforce Commission should continue to request payments as normal. Eligible claimants should expect to receive the additional benefits on or after Aug. 23.

The potential additional benefits come as the Texas Workforce Commission has reported 3.2 million Texans have filed for unemployment relief since mid-March.