ORLANDO, Fla. — With only weeks until federal unemployment benefit programs expire, Congress is considering a revised bill proposal that could extend additional benefits and protections for unemployed Americans.

As part of a $908 billion aid package, a group of Republican and Democratic lawmakers are proposing that Congress include $180 billion to extend unemployment benefits.

The proposal calls for providing $300 per week for up to 18 weeks to eligible Americans. The proposal is far more than Senate Republicans wanted in previous negotiations and less than what House Democrats have been pushing for.

Timing is critical, as current federal unemployment benefits are set to expire on December 26.

Within the legislation, Reps. Stephanie Murphy (D-Orlando) and Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-Washington state) introduced bipartisan legislation that would remove requirements that federal benefit overpayments be paid back.

“We’re trying to just help workers out in a tough moment and make sure they’re not the victims of state incompetence,” Murphy told Spectrum News.

According to the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity’s Jobs Dashboard, the agency so far has paid almost $19 billion in federal and state unemployment benefits to more than 2 million Floridians.

Although DEO said in a statement that it’s paid out “99.6 percent of all eligible benefits requested prior to November 13, 2020,” it’s not clear exactly how many people are still waiting to be paid in full, nor is it known yet how many people are believed to have been overpaid.

Some of those who say they were told they were overpaid dispute DEO’s finding.

“I have three daughters and I have Christmas coming, and right now DEO says I owe them $1,800 back pay because of their error,” Shanna Breedlove said.

Breedlove cleaned vacation rentals on the beach until March when she was put out of work due to vacancies.

“She (person at DEO) told me it was an error on their part, and they would send me a new pandemic application,” Breedlove said.

Other Floridians have described receiving letters telling them they were overpaid.

“How are you overpaying me when you still owe me six months of unemployment; it's awaiting adjudication right now,” said Julie Pollard, a laid-off appliance store manager.

She told Spectrum News that since her layoff in March, she received a single check June 12, followed by a letter October 23, saying the agency was looking to collect $864 in overpayments.

“Not having any money is terrible for anybody,” Pollard said. “I have no income at all, and without my family, I probably would not have made it this far. They’ve basically paid my bills.”

By law, states have to retrieve overpayments. But Murphy told Spectrum News the legislation she is co-sponsoring would give states such as Florida the flexibility to waive payback requirements “if repayment would cause severe economic hardship.”

It is a standard that Murphy said each individual state would define.

“Because of indifference and incompetence from state leaders, Florida’s unemployment system failed workers when they needed help the most, resulting in non-payment of benefits, under-payments, and delayed payments – and in some cases – overpayments,” Murphy said in a statement. “These overpayments were made due to bureaucratic mistakes. Florida workers should not be punished for errors made through no fault of their own. Requiring workers to pay back these funds now – when some federal assistance has lapsed and state mismanagement of the unemployment system continues – only adds insult to injury. This bipartisan bill seeks to prevent such an injustice.”