TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas will apply to participate in a federal program that provides additional benefits to workers who have lost their jobs because of the coronavirus pandemic, Gov. Laura Kelly said Thursday, less than two weeks after she questioned the program's legality and suggested it could be difficult to administer.

Kelly's office said the state would use a portion of its $1.25 billion in federal coronavirus relief funds to cover part of the additional benefits. President Donald Trump issued an executive order this month offering an additional $300 a week in benefits to jobless workers and $400 a week if states chipped in the additional $100. The federal government would have to approve Kansas' proposal.

Trump issued the order after an earlier program, providing an additional $600 a week, expired at the end of July, with no agreement in Congress on extending or replacing it. The Democratic governor said in a statement Thursday that she had hoped the GOP-led U.S. Senate would have approved a program before taking its August break.

“I could not sit by idly while many Kansans are still facing unemployment,” Kelly said. “This is far from a perfect solution, but we want to use every tool available to protect Kansans and our economy.”

Kelly has faced criticism from the Republican-controlled Legislature over the Kansas Department of Labor's past problems in dealing with a surge in unemployment claims and providing additional benefits under the earlier program. Kelly has blamed much of those problems on a decades-old computer system, but her first labor secretary, Delia Garcia, resigned in June.

The governor told reporters during an Aug. 17 news conference that providing an additional $100 a week in benefits to jobless workers might cost the state more than $40 million a month. She questioned whether Trump had the authority to bypass Congress and said trying to administer the new program could create “chaos.”

The new program created by Trump's executive order would allow people to claim benefits for Aug. 1 forward, through late December, suggesting the state could spend roughly $200 million.

But state officials aren't sure how many people would apply, and Kelly noted in her statement that people seeking the benefits will have to show that they lost their jobs because of the pandemic. Also, Kelly said, only people currently receiving $100 more more a week in regular unemployment benefits would be eligible.

“However, this program is not a permanent solution," Acting Labor Secretary Ryan Wright said. “At best it can be viewed as a quick fix.”

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