WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump on Wednesday threatened to take executive action to extend a moratorium on some evictions, suspend the payroll tax and boost unemployment benefits unless a coronavirus relief deal can be reached quickly with Democrats on Capitol Hill.
And in a sign that the White House could be preparing to act, the Trump administration has asked federal agencies to identify all of the money they have not yet spent from the $2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, which was approved in March, according to two people briefed on the effort. White House officials are trying to determine whether this money could be redirected and used for other purposes, such as temporary unemployment benefits or the eviction moratorium.
The president has been floating the possibility of acting unilaterally for several days, but he detailed his specific plans for the first time Wednesday at the beginning of a coronavirus news conference at the White House. It came as negotiations continued between top Trump administration officials and congressional Democrats, but agreement remained elusive.
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A number of significant policy differences remain, and officials involved in the negotiations cautioned that there was little time to meet their agreed-upon timeline for a final deal, which would pave the way for votes on the package next week. Even if they were able to do so and the president signed a recovery bill by the end of next week, it could take weeks for tens of millions of workers to begin receiving the supplemental benefits again.
"We're negotiating right now as we speak, and we'll see how that works out," Trump said. "In the meantime, my administration is exploring executive actions to provide protections against eviction ... as well as additional relief to those who are unemployed as a result of the virus. Very importantly, I'm also looking at a term-limited suspension of the payroll tax."
Administration officials and congressional Democrats agreed this week to try to make a deal by Friday to pass legislation next week, but it's unclear whether that is a realistic goal.
"If we can reach a compromise on these big issues, I think everything else will fall into place. If we can't reach an agreement on these big issues, then I don't see us coming to an overall deal," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said after a two-hour meeting Wednesday. "And then we'll have to look at the president taking actions under his executive authority."
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White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said earlier Wednesday that if no deal is struck by Friday, then further negotiation will be pointless and Trump will act on his own. But Democrats insisted that they wanted to keep negotiating until they could agree on an overall relief bill.
"I feel optimistic that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, but how long that tunnel is remains to be seen," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said.
Pelosi and Trump agree on another $1,200 direct payment to most Americans, making the idea all but certain to be included in the final agreement, at a cost in the $300 billion range.
EXECUTIVE ACTIONS
Pelosi addressed the issue of executive actions in an interview Wednesday on MSNBC, saying Trump might be able to extend the evictions moratorium -- which expired last month -- on his own, but she argued that it would be of limited use without money attached. Democrats are pushing for rental assistance and housing assistance as part of the talks.
"And, again, he can't do the money without the Congress of the United States," Pelosi said. "The power of the purse begins in the House," she said, referring to Congress' constitutional authority over spending.
Meadows told reporters that he was exploring all of Trump's options to be able to act unilaterally.
"I've been working around the clock to look at the options the president has at his disposal within the confines of his legal authority within the executive branch," Meadows said. "We are looking at a number of creative ways to address the real needs."
Trump has long sought to suspend the payroll tax, even though lawmakers of both parties oppose this move. An outside adviser, Stephen Moore, co-wrote an opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal on Sunday that said Trump could declare a "national economic emergency" and suspend the tax.
The issue of expired unemployment benefits has emerged as a flash point in the negotiations. Congress in March approved a $600 weekly federal benefit for people who lose their jobs -- on top of whatever state unemployment offices pay -- but that payment expired Friday. The approximately 30 million workers who had been receiving it are now in increasingly desperate straits as the economic recovery has stalled and the coronavirus continues to spread, with deaths rising in a number of states.
Many Republicans say the $600 enhanced benefit acted as a disincentive for people to return to the workforce because large numbers of unemployed people made more money on unemployment than they had at their jobs. In negotiations on Tuesday, Trump administration officials proposed reducing the figure to $400 weekly through early December, according to two people with knowledge of the talks. The offer was first reported by Politico.
However, Democrats have refused to move off the $600 figure, and they dispute the notion that it acts as a disincentive. A recent study by three Yale University economists found that workers receiving the extra benefits returned to work at about the same rate as others.
Pelosi is also pressing the case for a 15% increase in food stamp benefits that are especially important to key progressive constituencies, and Democrats won't allow $20 billion in aid to farmers without a big trade-off on food aid.
Democrats are also pressing for help for renters and homeowners having difficulty making housing payments and help for front-line essential workers. Both sides support more funding for child care grants, community health centers and energy subsidies for the poor.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., continues to insist that the legislation include some sort of liability shield against lawsuits brought against businesses, schools and universities, and charities that operate during the pandemic.
STICKING POINTS
Meadows and Mnuchin have been meeting with Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., almost daily for more than a week, with the talks seeming to show real progress on Tuesday as the negotiators set a timeline for making a deal and began trading offers.
"We're going to work around the clock the next few days to see if we can bridge the issues," Mnuchin said.
The enhanced unemployment benefit is one of multiple issues dividing the parties. Democrats' starting point is a wide-ranging $3.4 trillion bill passed by the House in May, but Republicans say they can't support a figure anywhere near that level.
Last week, the Trump administration urged Democrats to accept a stopgap extension of unemployment benefits and the lapsed eviction moratorium. Democrats have continued to insist on a comprehensive bill. McConnell last week introduced a $1 trillion counteroffer, but it has not attracted the support of many Senate Republicans, and Trump never endorsed it.
Another issue dividing the parties is aid to state and local governments. Democrats are seeking about $1 trillion in new aid for states and localities that have laid off more than 1 million workers since February and that face the prospect of more mass layoffs because of a huge drop in tax revenue. Trump repeated his argument Wednesday that Democrats want a "bailout" of poorly managed states.
The Trump administration is now offering $150 billion in state and local aid, according to the two people with knowledge of the talks, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe them. Republicans also say other money -- such as the $105 billion they support for schools -- should qualify as state aid, an argument Democrats reject.
OTHER ITEMS
Additionally, more than $100 billion in leftover loan funding from the Paycheck Protection Program -- relief money for small businesses -- is up for grabs. Top advocates such as Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., are backing plans to ease some loan forgiveness rules and permit a second round of payments to especially hard-hit businesses.
Democrats also have grown increasingly focused on issues with the U.S. Postal Service. Mail delays have been occurring in various places, an issue that feeds into Trump's warnings about the dangers of mail-in voting.
Schumer and Pelosi demanded to meet with Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, who participated in a portion of Wednesday's negotiating session and left without answering reporters' questions. Schumer said they had a "heated" exchange in which Democrats pressed DeJoy on mail delays and other issues.
"We are demanding that the regulations they put in place, which cut employment and cut overtime, be rescinded, particularly because of covid and because of the elections," Schumer said afterward.
Democrats are now seeking $10 billion in spending for the Postal Service over a year, a change from the $25 billion over three years that was in their original proposal, said the two people with knowledge of the talks.
The competing bills from House Democrats and Senate Republicans include a fair amount of money for items not related to the coronavirus. The Senate proposal contains an almost $2 billion new FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C., and $30 billion for the Pentagon, including direct help for powerful defense contractors. That's likely to get dumped, as will a more generous federal deduction for state and local taxes that Democrats included in their bill.
Information for this article was contributed by Erica Werner, Karoun Demirjian, Tony Romm and Jeff Stein of The Washington Post; by Andrew Taylor of The Associated Press; and by Emily Cochrane and Nicholas Fandos of The New York Times.
