President Trump speaks during a news conference in Bedminster, N.J., on Saturday.
Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images
President Trump signed four executive actions Saturday to provide economic relief amid the coronavirus pandemic. It amounts to a stopgap measure, after failing to secure an agreement with Congress.
Although the White House has not yet released the text of the actions, Trump said they would extend enhanced unemployment benefits that expired more than a week ago, extend a moratorium on evictions and continue the suspension of student loan repayments.
The previous enhanced unemployment benefits added $600 a week to standard state unemployment benefits. But Trump’s executive action would cut it to $400 and would seek to have states fund 25 percent of it.
It was not immediately clear where the federal portion would come from — though the president suggested he was looking to use unspent funds from previous coronavirus relief bills — and Trump said it would be up to states to determine how much, if any of it to fund.
“If they don’t, they don’t. That’s up to them,” said Trump, speaking at his Bedminster golf resort, when asked what happens if governors don’t have the funds available. “The states have the money. It’s sitting there.”
A fourth action would defer payroll tax collection for workers earning less than $100,000 a year. Trump suggested it would be retroactive to Aug. 1, though the night before he had said the start date would be July 1. Trump said the “payroll tax holiday” would last through the end of the year but could be made permanent if he is re-elected. The connection to November’s election wasn’t subtle.
“If I’m victorious on Nov. 3, I plan to forgive these taxes and make permanent cuts to the payroll tax. I’m going to make them all permanent,” Trump said, then turning to jab congressional Democrats and his opponent, former Vice President Joe Biden. “So they will have the option of raising everybody’s taxes and taking this away. But if I win, I may extend and terminate. In other words I will extend it beyond the end of the year and terminate the tax. And so, we’ll see what happens.”
Both congressional Democrats and Republicans alike opposed this payroll tax proposal when President Trump was trying to get them to include it in the coronavirus relief package. Payroll taxes fund Medicare and Social Security, and the deferral won’t do anything to help the millions of Americans currently unemployed.
Trump is likely doing this through the same mechanism that allowed taxpayers to put off filing their taxes until July 15 this year, says Andrew Rudalevige, a professor at Bowdoin College who specializes in presidential executive actions.
“The Treasury Secretary is authorized to delay the deadline for any action required under tax law up to one year,” said Rudalevige, in case of a federally declared disaster, and all states are currently operating under one due to the pandemic. “So payroll tax payments could under this provision be delayed. But, not forgiven — those taxes are still owed.”
There are already significant concerns about the long-term solvency of the popular social safety net programs. Reducing payroll taxes would hasten those problems.
On evictions, the federal moratorium expired on July 24, allowing landlords to begin issuing 30-day notices to vacate their properties. It is estimated the temporary ban on evictions covered more than 12 million renters, preventing them from being pushed out of their homes even if they couldn’t pay rent.
The temporary forbearance on student loan repayments is set to expire Sept. 30.
White House aides watched the congressional talks break down with apprehension, fearful that failure to close a deal could further damage an economic recovery already showing signs of slowing down. Friday’s jobs report, though it beat expectations, was smaller than the past two months, in part because a resurgence of the virus has led to states rolling back their reopenings.
The president’s team believes the economy needs to stabilize and show signs of growth for him to have any chance at winning re-election. Aides were hoping to frame the expected executive orders signings as a sign that Trump was taking action in a time of crisis. But it also would reinforce the view that the president, who took office declaring he was a dealmaker, was unable to steer the process to an agreement.
Trump said Saturday the orders “will take care of pretty much this entire situation, as we know it.” But they are far smaller in scope than congressional legislation, and even aides acknowledged they didn’t meet the needs of all that was required.
“This is not a perfect answer — we’ll be the first ones to say that,” Meadows said Friday as talks broke down. “But it is all that we can do and all the president can do within the confines of his executive power, and we’re going to encourage him to do it.”
Both the House and 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, their absence raised the possibility of a prolonged stalemate that stretches well into August and even September.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.