- White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said he “spoke out” earlier this week when he said unemployment benefits could only be extended by Congress.
- President Donald Trump on Saturday signed four executive orders to bypass Congress and deliver new actions on temporary benefits related to unemployment, student loans, evictions and advancement, and the tax service.
- Kudlow said Sunday morning that the administration expects a debate and the orders may end in court, but “the president decided to take action on his own” after weeks of fighting between the Democratic-controlled House and the Republican Senate.
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White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said Sunday that he regretted that unemployment benefits could only be extended by Congress.
Kudlow appeared on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday, where host Dana Bash pressured him on the remark he made while appearing on Fox Business Network that he did not think extending the benefits could be “administrative”. be done, but “an action required of Congress.”
“I’m not the lawyer and I’ve probably spoken out there,” Kudlow told Bash on Sunday.
President Donald Trump jumped on both sides of the aisle on Saturday when he signed four executive orders to surround Congress with new actions on student loans, evictions and prospects, the tax service and benefits of unemployment.
The move came after weeks of gridlock between the Democratic House and the Republican Senate over the next incentive bill to supplement coronavirus assistance programs.
“I thought at that point that maybe we could get a deal with Congress Democrats,” Kudlow said. “As you know, we were not able to get this deal. We tried a few times. We offered compromises. We could not get it. So, the president decided to take action himself.”
When Bash pointed to lawmakers who were worried if Trump ‘exaggerated his power’, ‘Kudlow said’ there will be a debate, ‘but White House adviser Pat Cipollone has’ continued with a fine tooth’ . ‘
—State of the Union (@CNNSotu) August 9, 2020
Kudlow specifically defends Trump’s temporary unemployment plan, which would require states to raise $ 100 from $ 400 weekly checks for benefits. He estimates that on average, individuals will receive $ 800 total in federal and state support, pushing Bash back.
“You’re talking about some other money I do not know about,” Bash said.
Kudlow said the administration “will be ready to reuse if states insert a little more, is all it amounts to.”
“We need a bit of a reality check here,” Bash said. “You agree that the only way this can all happen is if the states actually ask for it and create a whole new system.”
The host also urged the adviser whether states have the money to contribute to the order, which House Speaker Nancy Pelosi “Fox News Sunday” told them they do not have.
“States do not have the money to do that,” Pelosi said of the order. “They have expenses from the coronavirus, they have lost income from shelter on the spot and the fact that people cannot go out and spend money and bring demand into the economy as they normally would.”
Kudlow said officials “today and tomorrow” will find out the exact specifications “of which states can pay the contribution, in particular based on” $ 80 billion to $ 100 billion “allocated by the CARES Act, but never spent.
