Trump orders $400-per-week unemployment payments amid COVID crisis, hits Dems for stonewalling
By: Marisa Schultz (Fox News)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
President Trump signed four executive orders Saturday aimed at delivering relief to Americans struggling with the economic fallout of the coronavirus while accusing Democrats of stonewalling greater aid.
Trump announced a $400-per-week supplemental unemployment payment to out-of-work Americans -- short of the $600 weekly benefit that expired in the end of July. He unveiled a payroll tax holiday to Americans earning less than $100,000 through the end of the year, an extension of student loan relief to the end of the year and protections from evictions.
Trump blamed Democrats for the coronavirus deal 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 to the millions of jobless Americans, while the federal government would pick up 75 percent of the benefit, Trump said.
Acting unilaterally has its limits and could prompt legal challenges. Trump's orders are narrower in scope than the trillions Congress is mulling for a massive stimulus to the virus-damaged economy. Congress controls new federal spending and Trump already predicted sidestepping lawmakers will have consequences.
"We'll see, yeah, probably we'll get sued," Trump told reporters Friday.
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.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck 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.
Democrats blamed the GOP for failing to understand the gravity of the crisis and for trying to "nickel and dime" struggling Americans, while the White House accused Democrats of not willing to compromise.
Trump blasted the Democrats' $3 trillion HEROES Act as a "racial 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 actions 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 $40 billion from the Disaster Relief Fund.
The White House believes it can divert some of this funding without congressional blessing, 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.
Pelosi and Schumer earlier this week expressed skepticism about Trump's executive powers.
"You can't move that much money," Pelosi said. "We're talking about a major investment."
The Democrats want the White House to continue negotiating with Congress on a big package.
"A better way to do this is [to] come to an agreement that meets the needs of the American people -- a much better way," Schumer said.
The need for relief is pressing as millions of Americans lost out on 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 some 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: One in four 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 fell to 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.
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The President has acted.
He also has a pen and phone!
This takes away a huge point in the democrat's scam bill they passed a few weeks ago. The other thing that needs to put to death is the democrat's want to have billions, or up to around a trillion, going to democrat run shitholes and bailing them out for their decades of failure.
Even if they did get bailed out, I am sure that within less than a decade, those same dumbass cities will be right back in the red by billions, looking for another handout.
He is only doing this as a campaign tactic. He could care less about whether the US consumer is hurting.
That much is obvious. But the average voter probably has tunnel vision and doesn't look at anything beyond a payout.
He certainly didn't seem to care about Covid when it started and first hit here. Had he actually prepared and adequately dealt with it from the get go, these relief measures probably would not be necessary now. Never mind the host of issues his EOs will probably bring up too.
I remember when they complained and complained about Obama and his EOs, calling him a wanna be king.
Now these same people cheer for donald basically going around congress and making decrees.
Wow. So do you really think that when states have to pony up the 25% that they are only blue states?
Do you really think stopping people paying into social security is a good idea?
I know you all probably think so, but I will be yelling from the rooftops how he wants to make these cuts permanent, Ie effectively killing social security
So hardly anyone will be paying into SS, killing it by denying it funds.
Let's see what do the Executive orders signed today do?
How about Enhancing unemployment benefits for starters. Yes, this is a lifeline for the unemployed who were left for dead by Pelosi & Schumer. Benefits expired a week ago, as democrats fought for money for their broken down cities.
Funny how you think the money would only go to blue states....
So you actually think all red states are flush with cash?
Maybe you should explain to everyone what money you are talking about.
What money are you talking about? Odd that you cheer this going around of congress, cheer on the stopping of the Dem plan to allocate money for states, and now you are going to ask, what money?
Still weird that you cannot see that red states are going to be in trouble too.
When there is no money and with balanced budget amendments, the only recourse is massive cuts.
The ones that cannot see things are the ones for some reason think all red states are somehow just spectacular and only blue states are in trouble.
Also sick that one hopes for a state to go down and be in trouble.
I know what the dems are demanding. I'd like to hear your explanation?
What is sick was letting unemployment benefits expire in order to get funding for shitholes!
Seems to me you know exactly what I am talking about when you answer it.
So I want you to tell me that you think it is a good idea to starve SS.
In other words you were ok with letting the unemployed starve?
The more misery the better?
What is sticking ones head in their ass is praising McConnell when he actually sat back and was not even part of the negotiations.
Basically being derelict in his duty.
And again, stop acting like it would only be relief for blue states when that is a complete lie.
So refuse to answer...
That was you who refused
I told you what it was and we both know what it was.
Read back.
Again, do you think it is a good idea to starve SS?
Just admit it - the dems held unemployed Americans hostage for the money they wanted for cities - and it backfired!
They thought they would just make demands and stand firm, because the misery might benefit them in November. They just got fucked!
That you refuse to see the other side at no fault, just shows me you would rather play partisan politics and try to blame one side, instead of trying to see what needs to be done with any sort of open mind.
The money is not coming from SS. Don't liberals ever get tired of scaring old people. Carter said Reagan would let it go, remember? It never ends.
But what you did do was let the unemployed linger without benefits for a week!
What in the world are you talking about.
If donald cuts SS payments, there is not that money going into SS.
Correct - the other side was ready and able to negotiate. The dems were not. It was fairly simple. What incentive was there for democrats?
You mean allowing employers to defer payment of employee-side Social Security payroll taxes through the end of 2020 for Americans earning less than about $100,000 annually?
Is that what you are claiming will destroy SS????
de·fer
/dəˈfər/
verb
The Oxford Dictionary
Bullshit. It started with the Whitehouse saying my way or the highway.
The Dems actually agreed to downsize their bill. It was donald that said no way as he was not going to give states any money.
I can actually blame both sides. Sad that some cannot. Can only see through a partisan lens.
And guess what. That is most of the work force.
Plus he said he wants to make it permanent.
Do you actually think it would not have an impact on it?
We will let our readers decide who is partisan. The idea was to help those suffering from the economic disaster caused by the coronavirus. That should have been a slam dunk with no mention of bailing out mismanaged cities.
I don't care what anyone says, stopping payments into SS is not really going to help anyone.
Once again the President has been misquoted!
“If I win, I may extend and terminate,” Trump said.
But do go on with your progressive talking points
I know you don't. People have been waiting for money for two weeks. They are in that mess because a certain doctor recommended that the economy be shut down. It is time to take care of them! Where is the liberal compassion?
Where do you get that extend his tax holiday then eliminate the tax is something else other than it is....
Stuck in limbo with the people sucking up to donald.
Sad day when the republicans in the senate are not even working on this themselves...
They are two different things. There is a world of difference between allowing for a tax deferment and abolishing a tax and he obviously has to come up with a way of coming up with the money. Wherever he goes there is going to be a cry of foul from your "non-partisan" democrats. Of course they could take the politically risky move of filing a suit against the EO or all 4 or them. Maybe an Obama Judge will act for them. In the meantime I have yet to hear any concern for the unemployed.
They tried, but Nancy thought she held all the cards and wouldn't budge. I think she learned that from Obama. Either way she has some thinking to do.
So your'e down to that?
NEXT
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) issued the following statement today:
“Struggling Americans need action now. Since Democrats have sabotaged backroom talks with absurd demands that would not help working people, I support President Trump exploring his options to get unemployment benefits and other relief to the people who need them the most.
“Before the jobless benefits expired, Senate Republicans tried several times to extend them while talks continued. But Leader Schumer declared that nobody could get help unless all of Democrats’ demands were met.
“Then the President’s team worked hard to bridge differences on many of the policies that would rapidly help American families — money to safely re-open schools, money for testing, more direct payments for households, another round of the PPP, legal protections, and more. But Democrats have continued to block all of it while holding out for non-COVID-related liberal demands like a huge tax cut for rich people in blue states and a massive slush fund for state and local governments that is many times the size of the actual coronavirus shortfall they are projected to face.
“Weeks ago, some predicted that Speaker Pelosi and Minority Leader Schumer might actually prefer if the American people received no further bipartisan aid before the election. Sadly, they have done nothing to suggest otherwise.
“I am glad that President Trump is proving that while Democrats use laid-off workers as political pawns, Republicans will actually look out for them.”
So Trump claims to have "access" to 140 billion dollars by raiding other funds such as the National Disaster Relief Fund, but either way the 140 billion is about 10% of what is being negotiated by Congress.
I predict none of what Trump promised will ever be actually delivered to people and Congress will reach agreement , mainly on Democratic terms, sometime next week.
The democrats are going to get what they want? Rebuilding cities that they neglected for decades and recently allowed to be looted & burned? I'll be here next Saturday. I'll give your prediction until then to be fulfilled.
Be back later.
Locking it down for now.