Amid pessimism over whether a coronavirus relief deal can be reached with Congress, the Trump administration is examining what unilateral actions it can take to deal with the economic fallout caused by the pandemic, according to two people with knowledge of the deliberations, The Washington Post reported on Monday.
In the negotiations, Democrats are holding out for a $3 trillion bill that would deal with a wide range of healthcare and economic needs, while Trump administration officials are pressing for a stopgap measure that would touch on only a handful of issues.
Two such vital topics are the expired enhanced unemployment benefits and the expired moratorium on evictions that were authorized by Congress earlier this year but were meant to be temporary.
It is not clear what steps the administration could take without the authorization of Congress.
However, two outside economic advisers to the White House wrote an opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal on Sunday urging the president to declare a “national economic emergency” and announce that the Internal Revenue Service would temporarily defer the collection of payroll taxes, a move that would be attacked on questions of its legality.
This is seen as a possibility because President Donald Trump has throughout his presidency pushed the boundaries on executive power by trying to sidestep Congress in major policy decisions.
However, the people briefed on the deliberations said the administration's first preference is to reach a deal with Congress and that discussions on other tactics were preliminary and no final decisions had been made, according to the Post.
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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