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Trump Takes Executive Action on Economic Relief Package

Associated Press

   BEDMINSTER, NEW JERSEY - President Donald Trump on Saturday moved to
   defer payroll taxes and extend an expired unemployment benefit after
   negotiations with Congress on a new coronavirus rescue package
   collapsed.

   At his private country club in Bedminster, New Jersey, Trump moved to
   continue paying a supplemental federal unemployment benefit for
   millions of Americans out of work during the outbreak.

   However, his order called for up to $400 payments, one-third less than
   the $600 people had been receiving. Congress allowed those higher
   payments to lapse on August 1, and negotiations to extend them have
   been mired in partisan gridlock, with the White House and Democrats
   miles apart.

   Trump largely stayed on the sidelines during the administration's
   negotiations with congressional leaders, leaving the talks on his side
   to Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin.

   Trump's embrace of executive actions -- he signed one executive order
   and three memoranda Saturday -- to sidestep Congress runs in sharp
   contrast to his criticism of former President Barack Obama's use of
   executive orders on a more limited basis. And the president's step back
   from talks with Congress breaks with his self-assured negotiating
   skills.

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