USA TODAY International Edition
Trump open to talks
Pelosi, Mnuchin said Sunday both sides still willing to negotiate relief measures.
Democratic congressional leaders and White House officials said Sunday they are willing to continue negotiations to reach an agreement on a new coronavirus stimulus package to take the place of the executive orders President Donald Trump unveiled the previous day that aimed to address the economic hardships sparked by the coronavirus pandemic.
“We have to reach an agreement,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on “Fox News Sunday.”
The California Democrat said Trump’s executive orders failed to accomplish the administration’s own stated goals and that the idea that they could “take the place of an agreement is just not so.”
“We’ve got to meet halfway. But what they’re putting forth does not meet that standard,” she said.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D- N. Y., said on ABC News’ “This Week” that Trump’s executive orders are “unworkable, weak, and far too narrow.” He hopes “Republicans who hung their hat on these executive orders will now be forced” by the economy and the pandemic to “come to the table, accept our compromise to meet in the middle, and come up with an agreement.”
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on “Fox News Sunday” that he is willing to continue negotiations with Pelosi and Schumer. “I’m willing to listen,” Mnuchin said.
“The president has said, we can go back to the negotiating table,” White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow told ABC News.
At a news conference from his golf resort in Bedminster, New Jersey, Trump signed four executive orders. One to provide an additional $ 400 per week in unemployment benefits, another that suspends some student loan payments through the end of the year, another that protect renters from being evicted from their homes, and one that allows employers to defer certain payroll taxes through the end of the year for Americans who earn less than $ 100,000.
Pelosi and Schumer said there were many shortcomings to Trump’s orders. Among their strongest objections were the reduction in weekly federal unemployment benefits from $ 600 to $ 400 and language in the executive order that leaves the states responsible for paying for 25% of the benefit. They argued that states’ budgets already are strained and that they don’t have the money to cover 25%. They said it could take weeks or months to get the assistance to Americans because of how the order was structured.
Democrats have blasted the payroll tax deferment, arguing it potentially strips Social Security and Medicare of money because the payroll tax helps fund those programs.
“What Trump’s selling you: A fake tax cut that has to be paid back. What Trump’s ACTUALLY doing: Draining your Social Security,” tweeted Sen. Sherrod Brown, D- Ohio. “... More failed leadership from a failing President.”
Mnuchin argued that states could use “the money we have already given them” to offset the costs, and he said the president might waive that requirement. As for the time it would take to get money to those who need it, Mnuchin said, “We have been told by the states they could get this up and running immediately.”
Contributing: David Jackson and Michael Collins