Biden's Labor Secretary is watching 'very closely' after Indiana tried to cancel federal unemployment benefits and a judge intervened

• Indiana moved to cancel extra unemployment benefits, but a judge has halted that.
• Labor Secretary Marty Walsh told Insider he's watching the situation closely.
• The state has since said that it can't start up those benefits again, HuffPost reports.

In Indiana, federal unemployment benefits ended early - until they didn't. Biden's Labor Secretary told Insider that he's on the case.

After the state's announcement that the $300 weekly benefits would end on June 19, instead of the scheduled September end date for the program nationwide, impacted Hoosiers brought a lawsuit against the state and won a preliminary injunction last week that would preserve benefits for thousands as the case proceeds.

But, as HuffPost's Arthur Delaney reported, the state's Department of Workforce Development "claims it can't bring back the benefits." Scott Olson, a spokesman for the agency, told Delaney in an email that Indiana is "is determining how to proceed because the federal programs in Indiana no longer exist after their termination on June 19."

When asked if the Department of Labor has any plans to step in and ensure impacted Indiana residents receive their benefits, Labor Secretary Marty Walsh told Insider, "we've been in contact with the state, and we're watching this unfold very closely."

"I was actually in Indiana last week - I was at a vaccine site - and I was talking to a mother, with her son, to get vaccinated, and she talked to me about the unemployment benefit piece and that she was having a hard time finding a job," Walsh said. He added: "We're gonna monitor the situation as we move forward here."

The case represents one of the latest attempts by unemployed workers to retain their benefits. Over half of the states in the country have opted to end their federal benefits early, cutting off workers throughout the summer.

Many jobless workers who were newly eligible for unemployment insurance under the expanded federal programs could now lose all benefits.

Broadly, 4 million workers will be impacted by benefits ending early. Some politicians and advocates - including Sen. Bernie Sanders - have argued that the Department of Labor is obligated to continue paying out Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA), which made gig workers, among others, eligible for benefits. However, the Labor Department concluded it probably can't step in and continue those payments in states that have ended the program early.

When asked about the impact that benefits ending early had on jobs, Walsh said that, "in the states that have threatened or have cut unemployment benefits, we have not seen an uptick of job searches."

He added: "I think that what's driving our economy is not the threat of cutting unemployment benefits. What's driving the economy is confidence in people coming back to work."