President Trump's executive orders are looking to help some hit hardest by the impact of the coronavirus and could get lawmakers back to the table to hammer out a deal.
The executive orders look to defer some payroll taxes for employers and revive an expired unemployment benefits program. The weekly unemployment benefit of $400 is less than the $600 those out of work had been getting and the order says the individual states will have to pick up one-quarter of the cost. The president threatened to use his executive power because talks for a new deal were at an impasse. Democrats still trying to push forward a $3.4 trillion deal the U.S. House passed back in May and Republicans are looking closer to a $1.1 trillion COVID relief package. But both sides are putting the blame on each other.
“We have begged Senator McConnell since May, once the house passed its bill, to come back to town and do us,” says Ohio Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown. “And he waited till the week that employment expired. He waited until the week that the moratorium on evections expires. It means that people are hurting, and Senator McConnell has dug in and doesn't seem to want to address this.”
“Democrats frankly need to be more flexible,” says Republican Senator Rob Portman. “They are sticking to their house passed legislation which is three and a half-trillion dollars, which would be the largest amount of money ever voted on by either House of Congress. You know a lot of the stuff in there is not related to COVID-19, it’s not related to the pandemic. So that's a problem, that they're going to stick to that as their negotiating position, then it’s going to be really tough to get agreement.”
Talks for a new stimulus package between Republicans and Democrats could resume this week.
