President Trump said Wednesday he will take executive action by week’s end to extend federal unemployment benefits and prevent millions of people from being evicted from their housing, if congressional Democrats can’t agree with his administration on a deal for new coronavirus aid.
After another day of inconclusive negotiations between the White House and Democratic congressional leaders, Mr. Trump reiterated that he will act unilaterally if necessary to extend unemployment benefits and a moratorium on evictions and to suspend the payroll tax for workers and businesses.
“If Democrat leaders put partisan demands aside, we would reach an agreement very quickly,” Mr. Trump said at a White House press briefing after talks at the Capitol ended for the day.
He accused Democrats of being “primarily interested in a $1 trillion bailout of the poorly run states.”
“We’re not going to go along with it, especially since it’s not COVID-related,” the president said.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Democrats are still seeking nearly $1 trillion in aid for states and cities whose budgets have been strained by the response to the pandemic. Mr. Trump and Republican allies say Democrats are trying to reward irresponsible budget decisions by local and state Democratic officials, including replenishing underfunded union pension funds.
She said she’s “optimistic that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, but how long that tunnel is remains to be seen.”
White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows sounded frustrated as he and Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin emerged from another inconclusive bargaining session with Mrs. Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer.
“There’s no agreement. We’re done for the day,” Mr. Meadows told reporters.
He said the president is ready to extend enhanced federal unemployment benefits unilaterally, using unspent money from the $2 trillion CARES Act, and to renew the moratorium on evictions.
“We believe we can address those two things,” Mr. Meadows said on CNN. “He will address those two things. If Congress can’t get it done, the president of the United States will.”
Democrats insisted on bringing in Postmaster General Louis DeJoy for one of the negotiating sessions Wednesday, seeking assurances of a robust Postal Service performance in handling mail-in ballots during the pandemic. Mr. Schumer, New York Democrat, who said he had been rebuffed three times in trying to reach Mr. DeJoy by phone, called the meeting “a heated discussion.”
“We told him elections were sacred and to do cutbacks at a time when the ballots — all ballots — have to be counted … is insufficient,” Mr. Schumer said. “He had some answers, I don’t think we found them adequate.”
Mr. DeJoy has said the Postal Service is facing a liquidity crisis after losing money for years and operating with a “broken” business model.
Last month, the USPS implemented new cost-saving measures that cut overtime for hundreds of thousands of workers, spurring concern that it would trigger massive delays in deliveries. Officials have warned that the agency could run out of money by the end of September and requested $75 billion in emergency funding.
The $2 trillion relief bill Congress passed in March authorized $10 billion in loans for the Postal Service if it finds that it can’t fund operating expenses because of the pandemic.
The GOP’s proposal does not include any aid for the Postal Service. Democrats’ $3 trillion package allocated $25 billion, although they reportedly have lowered their request to $10 billion.
The president defended his campaign’s lawsuit against Nevada’s plan for expanded mail-in voting, saying elections officials and the mail system aren’t prepared to handle a huge increase in ballots through the mail.
“They send out millions of ballots. They’re totally unprepared to do it,” Mr. Trump said. “I’m doing our country a great favor by bringing it up. There’s no system like going to the poll and voting.”
Mr. Schumer said a “skinny bill” on unemployment insurance and evictions won’t suffice during what he called a crisis.
“There are wide differences in certain areas,” Mr. Schumer said. “We will stay here as long as it takes to get an agreement.”
Enhanced federal unemployment benefits of $600 per week expired Friday, and a moratorium on evictions in federally backed housing also expired last week. The unemployment payments were on top of regular state benefits.
Democrats have proposed extending the payments through January. Senate Republicans and the White House have proposed lowering the weekly amount for two months to either $200 or $400.
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
• Gabriella Muñoz can be reached at gmunoz@washingtontimes.com.
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