President goes solo on relief measures

BEDMINSTER, United States: President Donald Trump on Saturday signed executive actions extending financial relief to Americans hit by the coronavirus pandemic as polls showed a large majority of voters unhappy with his handling of the crisis.

The four measures marked a presidential show of strength after Mr Trump’s Republican party and White House team failed to agree with opposition Democrats in Congress on a new stimulus package aimed at stopping vulnerable Americans falling through the cracks.

“We’ve had it and we’re going to save American jobs and provide relief to the American workers,” Mr Trump said at a press conference at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, where he was spending the weekend.

With double-digit unemployment, disruption to businesses from social distancing rules and persistent coronavirus spread, many Americans had been relying on relief measures approved earlier by Congress, but which mostly expired in July.

Mr Trump said his decision to circumvent Congress with executive actions would mean relief money getting “rapidly distributed”. In reality, his measures are likely to face court challenges because Congress controls federal spending.

For Mr Trump (pictured), lagging badly in the polls against his Democratic rival Joe Biden ahead of the November 3 presidential election, the orders were partly about showing he is in charge.

He turned the signing ceremony in the ballroom of the golf club into an assault on his opponents and threw in several false claims about his accomplishments in office.