But that memorandum on improved unemployment benefits – 25% of which states are asked to cover – has added more strings than the White House acknowledged and is seen as a cumbersome attempt that may not help many of the unemployed.
The other three actions he signed include a memorandum on a payroll tax vacation for Americans earning less than $ 100,000 a year, an executive order on “assistance to tenants and homeowners” and a memorandum on postponing student loan payments.
“I’m taking action to raise an extra or extra $ 400 a week and extend benefits, $ 400. That’s generous, but we want to take care of our people,” Trump said of his memorandum on unemployment benefits at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey.
But it’s more complicated than that. A state must agree to make a financial arrangement with the federal government for each unemployed person living there to receive one of the additional benefits. And the federal government is asking states to raise the tab for 25% (or $ 100) of the extra $ 400 extra benefit each person can receive weekly in extra help.
Up to $ 44 billion from the Disaster Relief Fund would be made available for “lost payroll assistance” to supplement state payments, according to the memorandum issued by the White House shortly after Trump’s news conference.
But when asked about the president’s executive action asking states to pay 25% of the $ 400 unemployment benefit, an official from a northeastern state, run by a Democratic governor, laughed. “We do not have that money,” the official said.
This official stated that they did not care about this executive action and that in the wake of the pandemic their funds were completely drained.
In fact, states have asked Congress to provide them with an additional $ 500 billion to increase their budgets, which have been burnt down by the loss of tax revenue amid the pandemic. This has been one of the main points of controversy between Democrats, who want to spend extra help, and Republicans, who do not want to compensate for what they say are poorly controlled states.
The millions of Americans who have filed for unemployment benefits have trusted various funds of the Unemployment Insurance Fund. Already, 10 states have borrowed nearly $ 20 billion from the Treasury Department to cover their share of payments, which typically take 26 weeks.
Several experts told CNN that there are big questions about how much states can pay the extra costs. If a state says it does not have the funds or does not want to implement the agreement with the federal government, then the unemployed in that state would get zero dollars in the extra benefits (they would still get the normal state unemployment insurance).
Because Congress has not allowed expansion of additional federal unemployment assistance, the state will have to introduce a whole new system to provide the additional assistance, which can take months. The memorandum signed by Trump was not in favor of unemployment insurance and would not come through the program already in place in the states.
Michelle Evermore, an unemployment expert at the National Employment Law Project and one of the nation’s leading experts on unemployment, told CNN that she considered the chances of this attempt to help many of the newly unemployed by Covid “low.”
“This is a blazing program, it’s a lost pay assistance program, it requires the creation of a whole new system of government. The states that do not implement the program as quickly as other states will not receive funding because it will unpack,” he said. said Evermore.
Finally, according to the memorandum, an individual can only receive the federal benefit of $ 300 if he or she is first eligible for $ 100 in support of his or her state. Evermore said this will cut a large group of people. “There are so many problems with people getting an advantage under this,” she told CNN.
On Saturday by a reporter asked why $ 400 instead of the previous $ 600, Trump replied, “This is the money they need, this is the money they want, this gives them a tremendous incentive to work back.”
Trump administration officials and Republicans did not want to pass the $ 600 supplement, which expired July 31 and was part of the nation’s historic expansion of the nation’s unemployment benefit programs passed in late March. t they say it can desincentivize the return of people to work. When combined with state benefits, about two-thirds of workers earn more than they earned in their previous jobs, a University of Chicago study found. GOP lawmakers initially pushed for giving the unemployed a supplement of $ 200 for at least two months and then a payment that would provide 70% of the former employee’s previous salary, when added to state benefits.
Democrats, on the other hand, say the economy is still weak and the unemployed need the $ 600 to pay their bills.
Partisan finger-pointing and ‘unconstitutional slop’
First Chamber leader Mitch McConnell praised Trump’s executive actions and put the partisan finger-pointing through, accusing Democrats of “sabotaging” talks.
“Americans are struggling to take action now. Since Democrats have sabotaged back-to-back talks with absurd demands that would not help working people, I support President Trump exploring his options to gain unemployment benefits and other relief for the people who it is most needed, “McConnell said in a statement Saturday.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Minority Leader Chuck Schumer criticized Trump’s executive actions, describing them as “lean” and accusing the president of not understanding the seriousness of the current crisis.
“We are disappointed that instead of working to solve the problems of Americans, the President chose instead to stay on his luxury golf course to announce unworkable, weak and narrow policy announcements to cut the unemployment benefits that ‘. t millions are desperately needed and seniors are at risk ‘Social Security and Medicare,’ Pelosi and Schumer said in a statement.
Presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden called Trump’s actions “half-baked.”
“This is not an art of the deal,” Biden said in a statement. “This is not a presidency. These missions are not real solutions. They are just another cynical ploy designed to remove responsibility. Some measures do much more harm than good.”
Trump said he believes unemployment benefits will be “rapidly distributed,” even though there are potential challenges to the legality of his executive action.
Democrats are likely to challenge the executive actions in court. Trump first outlined the executive actions at an almost-summoned news conference on Friday at his golf club in New Jersey, where he said he was not worried about the legality of the actions he promised.
At least one Republican has criticized Trump’s efforts in making executive policies, specifically regarding the tax service.
“The pin-and-phone theory of executive legislation is unconstitutional,” Sen said. Ben Sasse of Nebraska in a statement Saturday night. “President Obama did not have the power to unilaterally rewrite immigration law with DACA, and President Trump does not have the power to unilaterally rewrite the tax law. Under the constitution, that power belongs to the American people acting through their members of Congress. . “
Pay taxes
The tax cuts are one of Trump’s favorite tax cuts that both parties opposed, including in the latest incentive bill. One of his memoranda calls for deferring the employee’s share of tax deductions – 6.2% for Social Security and 1.45% for Medicare – for workers earning less than $ 100,000 a year through the rest of 2020 .
If he is re-elected, Trump said, he plans to forgive the taxes and make permanent cuts to the state tax.
“I will make them all permanent,” he said.
Otherwise, workers would probably have to pay taxes at the end of the year.
However, the controversial measure would do nothing to help the unemployed and would likely weaken the already penalized finances of Social Security and Medicare.
Trump also said Saturday that his administration was looking at additional income taxes and tax breaks on capital gains for U.S. taxpayers.
“We will look at capital gains for the purpose of job creation and income tax is self-explanatory. And it will be income tax for middle- and lower-income people, but middle-income people who pay a lot of income tax, you “I have a tax inequality. I say that as a Republican, and you have tax inequalities,” Trump said.
He gave no further details.
This story has been updated with additional developments.
CLARIFICATION: This headline and this story have been updated to reflect that Trump signed one executive order and three memoranda.
Manu Raju, Kevin Bohn and Sarah Mucha contributed to this report.
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