STATEWIDE — Florida can't get extra unemployment funds through President Trump's executive order, according to Gov. Ron DeSantis, so the search is on for a way to get more money to hundreds of thousands of Floridians still unemployed.

Federal benefits are expired, and the president's executive order requires states to chip in to pay for the extra boost in benefits.

The governor said it is a tough-budget time for the state and officials are trying to figure out how to make this work.

Florida's maximum weekly state benefit is $275, one of the lowest in the country. The urgency is to try and find extra funding to help those desperately trying to pay rent and other obligations.

Trump's executive order is providing $300 a week under a new "lost wages assistance" program, but states have to put up an additional $100 a week, making that $400 in aid, the president said.

The president is proposing allowing states to use the remainder of their CARES Act funds to provide these additional payments, but DeSantis, who usually is in lock-step with the president, said that more than $4 billion is already obligated, so they are looking at another option.

"To potentially take a loan from the Department of Labor to our unemployment system and pay out additional benefits as a result of that, but we're looking to see what that would entail," DeSantis said.

The governor said this Department of Labor route may give them away, but his team is looking over any potential legal issues that could come up.

After the president announced his executive order, he said it was possible the federal government could cover the full cost if governors make a request, so that's another option.​

​All of this is still being worked out from the federal government, and there is no timeline yet in getting the funds to those who desperately need.