Trump remained largely on the sidelines during the administration’s negotiations with congressional leaders, leaving the talks to his side to Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin.
Trump’s embrace of executive actions to restrict Congress runs in stark contrast to his criticism of former President Barack Obama’s use of executive orders on a more limited basis. And the president’s step-back from talks with Congress breaks with his confident negotiation skills.
Now, Trump, who has not spoken to Speaker of the Democratic House since last year, tried to play the role of election-year savior, with the support of $ 400 a week, as well as a proposal to pay taxes and student loan payments and the continuation of a free time on some evictions during the crisis.
“It’s $ 400 a week, and we do it without the Democrats,” Trump said, asking states to cover 25% of the cost. Trump seeks to set up $ 44 billion in previously approved disaster relief to help states maintain additional pandemic unemployment benefits, but Trump said it would be up to states to determine how much, if any, of that funding, so that the benefits can be smaller still.
Many states are facing budget shortfalls due to the coronavirus pandemic and would find it difficult to adopt the new obligation. The previous benefit of unemployment was fully funded by Washington.
The president said at his club on Friday night that “if Democrats hold this critical relief hostage, I will act under my authority as president to give Americans the relief they need.”
Democrats had said they would reduce their spending requirements from $ 3.4 trillion to $ 2 trillion, but said the White House needed to increase its supply. Republicans have proposed a $ 1 trillion plan.
White House aides have seen the talks break down with fear, fearing that the failure of a deal could have damaged an economic recovery, albeit showing signs of delay. Friday’s job report, although it beat expectations, was smaller than the past two months, in part because a resurgence of the virus has led states to repay their reopening.
The president’s team believes the economy needs to stabilize and show signs of growth for him to have any chance of winning reelection. Aides hope to frame the expected signing of executive orders as a sign that Trump took action in a time of crisis. But it would also reinforce the view that the president, who took office, declaring that he was a dealer, could not send the process to an agreement.
Trump said Saturday the orders “will almost certainly take care of this whole situation, as we know it.” But they are much smaller in scope than legislation in Congress, and even assistants acknowledged that they did not meet the needs of everything needed.
“This is not a perfect answer – we’ll be the first to say that,” Meadows said Friday as talks broke down. “But it’s all we can do and all the president can do within the bounds of his executive power, and we will encourage him to do it.”
Trump said the tax department’s employee share will be postponed from Aug. 1 through the end of the year. The move would not directly help unemployed workers, who do not pay taxes when they are unemployed, and workers will eventually have to repay the federal government without an act of Congress, where there is bipartisan opposition on Capitol Hill.
In essence, the proposal is an interest-free loan that needs to be repaid. Trump said he would try to get lawmakers to expand it, and the timing would come in line with a session of lame duck after the election in which Congress will try to pass government funding to governments.
“If I win, I can expand and quit,” Trump said, reiterating a long-term goal but remaining silent on how he would fund the benefits of Medicare and Social Security that would cover the 7% income tax. employees covers. Employers also pay 7.65% of their salaries into the funds.
“This false tax cut would also be a big shock to workers who thought they would get a tax cut if it was just a delay,” the Democratic senator said. Ron Wyden of Oregon. “These workers would be hit with much larger payments along the way.”
Both the House of Representatives and the Senate have left Washington, with members sent home on instructions to be ready to return for a vote on an agreement. With no deal in sight, her absence allowed for the possibility of a longer stalemate lasting well into August and even September.
Often, an accident in Washington has minor consequences for the public – but not this time. It would mean more difficulty for millions of people who lose enhanced unemployment benefits and have further damage to an economy pummeled by the still rampant coronavirus.
Friday’s negotiations at the Capitol turned out to be just “a disappointing meeting,” said New York Democratic Prime Minister Chuck Schumer. He said the White House had rejected an offer from Pelosi, D-Calif., To limit Democratic demands by about $ trillion. Schumer urges the White House to “negotiate with Democrats and meet us in the middle. Do not say it is your way or no way. “
That Capitol Hill session followed a controversial meeting Thursday night that left for the first time real doubts about the ability of the Trump administration and Democrats to come together on a fifth COVID-19 bill.
Pelosi declared the talks all but dead until Meadows and Mnuchin give ground.
The breakdown in the negotiations is particularly difficult for schools, which are counting on billions of dollars from Washington to help with the cost of redevelopment. But other priorities are also patient, including a fresh round of $ 1,200 direct payments for most people, a cash infusion for the troubled Postal Service and money to help states hold state elections in November.
Mnuchin said renewing a $ 600-a-week pandemic unemployment incentive and Democrats’ enormous demands for help from state and local governments are the key areas where they sit.
Democrats have offered to significantly reduce their nearly $ 1 trillion demand for state and local governments, but some of Pelosi’s proposed cost savings would fall mainly because it would shorten the time frame for benefits such as food stamps.
Pelosi and Schumer continue to insist on an enormous aid package to process a rise in cases and deaths, bilingual unemployment and the threat of poverty for millions of the newly unemployed.
First Republicans have been split, with roughly half the rank and file of majority leader Mitch McConnell against another bailout. Four previous $ 3 trillion coronavirus response decisions have won approval on bipartisan votes despite intense wrangling, but conservatives have backtracked on the possibility of another Pelosi-broken agreement with a hefty deficit-funded cost.
McConnell has kept his distance from the negotiations while coordinating with Mnuchin and Meadows.
Associated Press writer Andrew Taylor in Washington contributed to this report.
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