Trump takes action after congressional stalemate
President
Trump signed four executive actions Saturday aimed at
delivering relief to Americans struggling with the economic fallout of
the coronavirus pandemic while accusing Democrats of
stonewalling greater aid efforts.
Trump announced a $400-per-week supplemental unemployment
payment to out-of-work Americans -- short of the $600 weekly benefit that
expired at the end of July. He unveiled an extension of student loan relief
and protections from evictions for renters and homeowners.
Trump also issued a payroll tax holiday through the end
of the year for Americans earning less than $100,000, while promising more
relief if he wins a second term.
The president signed the executive actions from
his Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J., as club members cheered
him on. He blamed Democrats for the coronavirus stalemate in Congress and
said he'd take matters into his own hands.
"Democrats are obstructing all of it," Trump
said. "Therefore, I'm taking executive action ... and we're going to
save American jobs and provide relief to the American workers."
For the new $400-per-week benefit, states would be on the
hook for funding 25 percent for the millions of jobless Americans, while
the federal government would pick up 75 percent of the benefit, Trump said.
Asked when the jobless would see the money, Trump said it would
be “rapidly distributed.”
The $400 boost is more than what many congressional
Republicans wanted. Some opposed any extension of the federal aid, while others
backed a boost no greater than $200 per week. Meanwhile, Democrats
had been fighting for the full $600-per-week extension, which is on top of
state unemployment benefits.
…
But Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said he
supports Trump's unilateral actions.
"I applaud @realDonaldTrump executive
actions to help the American [people]," Grassley, the top Republican on
the Senate Finance Committee, tweeted. "Democrats all or nothing strategy
jeopardizes the certainty Americans need to pay their bills. [President] Trump
puts the American [people] first, compared to nonstop political games by
Democrats."
House Democrats already passed their $3 trillion coronavirus relief bill in May. The Senate
GOP last month proposed a $1 trillion plan, though didn't bring the measure
to a vote as Republicans were divided on whether more aid is even needed.
Pelosi and Schumer have been in talks all week with
White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin,
but the two sides couldn't strike a deal.
…
Trump blasted the Democrats' $3 trillion HEROES Act as a “radical left
policy” that includes bailouts to states, sending stimulus help to undocumented
immigrants, and funding for mail-in voting and other election provisions.
“They want to steal the election," Trump said of
Democrats.
Trump's orders are narrower in scope than the
trillions Congress is mulling for a massive stimulus to the virus-damaged
economy.
The president didn't address some of the big
issues that congressional proposals sought to tackle,
including another round of $1,200 stimulus checks, aid to schools to
reopen safely, an infusion of cash to revenue-strapped state and
local governments, food assistance, new lawsuit protections for businesses and
money for mail-in voting for the 2020 elections.
Because of provisions in the Constitution that grant the
legislative branch spending power, the White House can't just
pull hundreds of billions out of the ether without Congressional approval.
But the Trump administration believes it has access
to $140 billion which it can “reprogram.” That includes $80 billion in untapped
money from the big coronavirus bill signed into law in March and roughly $40
billion from the Disaster Relief Fund.
Trump's executive order indicated he would use "up
to $44 billion from the DRF" to cover the federal government's 75 percent
share of the $400 weekly unemployment aid.
The White House believes it can divert
the funding, similar to how Trump in 2019 declared a national
emergency at the border with Mexico to shift billions of dollars from the
Pentagon budget to help pay for a border wall.
Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of
Richmond School of Law, said Trump may have some legal authority to defer
payroll taxes and student loan repayments as well as extending housing
assistance. But the $400 unemployment payments are a different story.
“The unemployment benefits are less clear because the
Constitution gives Congress authority to spend money,” Tobias told Fox News.
“[The president] may try to move around other money appropriated like Trump did
with the wall. It is unclear that lawsuits could be resolved in time to stop
some of his efforts.”
Democrats want the White House to continue negotiating
with Congress on a big package.
“Democrats repeat our call to Republicans to return to
the table, meet us halfway and work together to deliver immediate relief to the
American people," Schumer and Pelosi said Saturday. "Lives are being
lost, and time is of the essence.”
No votes are expected in the House until the week of
Sept. 14 unless both parties can reach a deal on a coronavirus
stimulus package.
The need for relief is pressing as millions of Americans
lost the $600-per-week federal unemployment benefit that expired at the
end of July. A partial moratorium on evictions on properties
with government-backed mortgages also expired at the end of last month.
There are about 110
million Americans living in rental households; up to 23 million
renters – or 20 percent – are at risk of eviction by Sept. 30,
according to an analysis by the COVID-19
Eviction Defense Project.
With the supplemental $600 in unemployment benefits
now officially lapsed, about 24 million Americans say they have little to
no chance of being able to pay next month's rent, according to a survey by
the U.S.
Census Bureau.
Rent and mortgage payments are typically the largest
monthly expense for Americans: 1 in 4 tenant families pays more than half of
its income for rent, a rate that’s even higher in cities like San Francisco and
New York, according to Harvard’s
Joint Center for Housing Studies.
New jobless figures from the Labor Department, which
cover the week ending August 1, show that more than 1.18 million
workers sought aid last week, the lowest since March 14. The latest
figures bring the total number of unemployment claims since the shutdown
began to more than 55 million.
The unemployment rate sits at 10.2%, down from 11.1% in
June.
Fox News' Mark Meredith, John Roberts, Jon
Decker, Chad Pergram, Brooke Singman and Megan Henney contributed to
this report.
