Trump signs order for coronavirus relief, with
lower level of extra aid for jobless
Trump gives speech at his golf club in New Jersey, and
signs order which includes extended unemployment payments with $200 drop
Edward
Helmore
Sat 8 Aug
2020 22.43 BSTFirst published on Sat 8 Aug 2020 22.16 BST
Donald
Trump said on Saturday that he would extend enhanced coronavirus unemployment
benefits and employment taxes into next year with executive orders, but cut the
level of some of the support.
Speaking at
his golf resort in Bedminster, New Jersey, Trump said he was taking action
after Congress had failed to agree a deal, blaming “far left” Democrat demands
in a campaign-style speech.
Trump said
he would use unspent funds from the Cares act to continue unemployment payments
to millions of newly unemployed Americans at a rate of $400 per week – a $200
drop from the earlier $600 payment, defer payroll tax through the end of 2020,
defer student loans and interest, and extend the federal eviction moratorium.
Democrats,
who are likely to challenge the orders in court, had been pushing for a
resumption of the $600 extra aid, which ended on 31 July, saying it was a
lifeline for those hit hardest by the economic crisis.
“Congressional
Democrats have stonewalled our efforts to extend this relief,” Trump told
reporters from a ballroom at the resort where club members, wearing masks, were
invited to stand at the back.
Trump said
he has also cut income and capital gains taxes, though he did not lay out
specific proposals. He vowed to extend and make payroll cuts permanent “if I
win in November.”
The action
to extend unemployment payments, cut payroll taxes, continue the suspension of
tenant evictions and to ease the burden of student loan debt came in one
executive order and three memoranda.
Asked by a
reporter why the benefits would be $400 instead of the previous $600, Trump
responded: “This is the money they need, this is the money they want, this
gives them a great incentive to go back to work.” He added: “There was a
difficulty with the 600 number because it really was a disincentive.”
Trump used
the event to attack Democrats, accusing party leaders of attempting to freight
emergency spending with voter ID reforms that would amount to an attempt to
“steal the election”, stimulus checks for illegal aliens, and early prison
release for felons.
“What does
this have to do with coronavirus? This has nothing to do with what were talking
about,” said Trump. Democrats, he claimed, had been taken over by “the radical
left so they can go to Portland and try and rip the place apart.”
The
announcement came one day after negotiations with congressional Democrats on a
broad pandemic aid package collapsed with the two sides around $1tn apart in
the amount of money they want to commit to extending support to millions faced
with economic hardship as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
In comments
to the New York Times published on Saturday before Trump’s announcement, the
House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, said she’s been unwilling to bow to the
administration’s demands for a stopgap solution. “We’re not doing short-term
action, because if we do short-term action, they’re not going to do anything
else, she said, adding: “This president is the biggest failure in our history.”
At a
hastily-arranged press conference on Friday, Trump had vowed not only to
suspend payroll tax and extend unemployment benefits but to also defer student
loan payments indefinitely and forgive interest, and extend a moratorium on
tenant evictions.
The impasse
meant that the $600-a-week bonus pandemic jobless federal benefit, which
expired at the end of July, would be lost and potentially lead to a sharp rise
in poverty rates and homelessness.
Trump had
vowed to use his “authority as president to get Americans the relief they need”
but constitutional law experts voiced doubt that executive power extends to
spending money on relief efforts without congressional authorization. However,
Trump vowed to override any roadblock democrats attempted to erect.
“If
Democrats continue to hold this critical relief hostage, I will act under my
authority as president to get Americans the relief they need,” Trump said
before Saturday’s announcement.
Democrats
have complained that the White House had rejected their offer to cut their
larger demand for coronavirus relief from $3tn to $2tn. Chuck Schumer, the top
Senate Democrat, said he’d urged administration negotiators led by treasury
secretary Steven Mnuchin to accept the offer.
“Don’t say
it’s your way or no way,” Schumer said, noting that the Republican offer
“doesn’t cover opening of schools. It doesn’t cover testing. It doesn’t cover
dealing with rental assistance. It doesn’t cover elections. It doesn’t cover so
many things.”
The
Republican package, they added, also failed to include an additional $1,200
direct payment to individuals, money for states to hold elections in November,
or support for the beleagured US Postal Service, which Pelosi said was “central
to the life of our democracy” in an election year when many Americans will be
voting by mail.
Republicans
countered that Democratic party leaders were overlooking the limitations of
their position.
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