总统唐纳德·特朗普一天后签署了多项执行行动冠状病毒国会的救济谈判破裂了。
特朗普上周六签署了一份备忘录，该备忘录预计每周提供400美元的额外失业保险福利——低于7月31日到期的600美元福利。一项行政命令将延长暂停驱逐令，此外还有备忘录，规定学生贷款延期支付，并为年收入低于10万美元的人设定工资税假期。
奥巴马总统在周六下午于新泽西州贝德明斯特举行的新闻发布会上签署协议时说:“通过这四项行动，我的政府将为在这一困难时期挣扎的美国人民提供直接和重要的帮助。”
尚不清楚特朗普有什么法律权力来执行这些行动。
特朗普称400美元的失业救济金——民主党人一直坚持维持在600美元——是“慷慨的”当被问及这种下降对许多人来说是“困难”时，他退缩了。
他说:“嗯，不，这不是一个困难，这是他们需要的钱。”“这是他们想要的钱。这给了他们重返工作岗位的巨大动力，因此这远远超过了最初达成的共识。600是一个存在的数字，正如你所知道的，600这个数字有困难，因为它确实是一个抑制因素。”
当被问及工资税假期时，特朗普说:“它给人们带来了很大的帮助。”这有助于我们的国家回归，我认为任何人说任何不同的话都是非常愚蠢的。每个人都想要它。顺便说一句，民主党想要它，共和党想要它，他们只是不能得到它，他们只是不能达成协议，但每个人都想要它。最重要的是，人们想要它，人们也需要它。”
特朗普表示，他干预了谈判，部分原因是民主党用与冠状病毒无关的条款充实了他们的法案。
他说，他们要求为“民主党管理不善的州”提供“救助资金”，该法案包括“旨在增加选民欺诈的措施”和“对非法外国人的刺激检查。”
关于COVID-19救助法案的谈判在周五破裂，双方都退出了谈判，理由是没有达成协议的具体进展，也没有未来会议的计划。
财政部长史蒂夫·姆努钦和参谋长马克·梅多斯一直在与众议院议长南希·佩洛西和参议院少数党领袖查克·舒默进行日常讨论。本周早些时候，姆努钦和梅多斯为周五达成协议设定了最后期限。
佩洛西和舒默批评总统决定在周六晚上签署行政行动声明。
他们写道:“总统今天宣布的这些微不足道的消息表明，特朗普总统仍然没有理解工薪家庭面临的健康和经济危机的严重性和紧迫性。”“我们感到失望的是，总统非但没有致力于解决美国人的问题，反而选择留在他的豪华高尔夫球场上，宣布不可行、软弱和狭隘的政策声明，削减数百万人亟需的失业福利，危及老年人的社会保障和医疗保险。”
他们补充说:“这些政策声明并没有给家庭带来真正的帮助。”“例如，总统的声明不仅没有实际延长暂停驱逐令，也没有提供任何帮助来支付租金，这只会让绝望的家庭眼睁睁地看着他们的债务越积越多。特朗普总统没有通过一项法案，而是削减了家庭的失业福利，并将各州进一步推向预算危机，迫使他们对生死攸关的服务进行毁灭性的削减。"
在特朗普签字后，多数党领袖米奇·麦康奈尔发表了一份声明，在抨击民主党的同时，庆祝总统的行动。
“几周前，有人预测说，如果美国人民在选举前得不到两党的进一步援助，议长佩洛西和少数党领袖舒默实际上可能更愿意这样做。”可悲的是，他们没有做任何其他的暗示。”“我很高兴特朗普总统正在证明，尽管民主党人把下岗工人当作政治棋子，但共和党人实际上是在为他们着想。”
当被问及救援会多快到达美国时，特朗普说，“我们认为救援会非常迅速。我们希望速度非常快。”
当被问及他周五的言论时，他说他预计自己的行为会被起诉，他收回了原话，他说:“我说的是，人们可以做他们想做的任何事情。”我想，也许他们会提起法律诉讼。也许，他们不会。但是他们不会赢。他们不会赢的。”
他补充道:“如果我们被起诉，那将是一个不想让人们得到钱的人。”这不会是一件很受欢迎的事情。”
佩洛西和舒默在周五的新闻发布会上批评了行政命令的使用，并表示他们致力于谈判。
舒默说:“当经济开始走下坡路时，唯一的选择是强有力的一揽子计划，然而昨天我们的共和党朋友似乎愿意离开谈判桌，去执行一个不可行的、软弱的、狭隘的行政命令，而这些命令不会给美国人民带来好处。”
Trump signs 4 executive actions on coronavirus relief
PresidentDonald Trumpsigned multiple excecutive actions one day aftercoronavirusrelief negotiations fell apart in Congress.
Trump on Saturday signed a memorandum that is supposed to provide $400 a week for additional unemployment insurance benefits -- down from the $600 benefit that expired July 31. An executive order would extend a moratorium on evictions in addition to memoranda that would provide deferments for student loan payments and create a payroll tax holiday for those making less than $100,000 annually.
"Through these four actions, my administration will provide immediate and vital relief to Americans struggling in this difficult time," the president said from the signing at a news conference in Bedminster, New Jersey, on Saturday afternoon.
It remains unclear what legal authority Trump has to enforce the actions.
Trump called the $400 unemployment benefit -- which Democrats had insisted remain at $600 -- "generous." When asked about the decrease being a "hardship" for many he pushed back.
"Well, no, this is not a hardship, this is the money that they need," he said. "This is the money they want. And this gives them a great incentive to go back to work so this is much more than what was originally agreed. The 600 was a number that was there and as you know, there was, there was difficulty with the 600 number because it really was a disincentive."
Asked about the payroll tax holiday, which was opposed by both Democrats and Republicans and doesn't help the unemployed, Trump said "It helps people greatly. It helps our country get back and anybody that would say anything different, I think, is very foolish. Everybody wanted it. By the way, the Democrats want it, the Republicans want it, they just couldn't get it, they just couldn't come to an agreement but everybody wants it. And the very important thing is, the people want it and the people need it, actually."
Trump said he had intervened in the negotiations, in part, because Democrats had padded their bill with provisions that had nothing to do with coronavirus.
He said they were demanding "bailout money" for "states that have been badly managed by Democrats" and that the bill included "measures designed to increase voter fraud" and "stimulus checks for illegal aliens."
Talks on a path forward for a COVID-19 relief bill collapsed Friday, with both parties leaving negotiations citing no measured progress toward an agreement and no plans for a future meeting.
Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and Chief of Staff Mark Meadows had been in daily discussion with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. Earlier this week, Mnuchin and Meadows set a deadline for an agreement to be reached by Friday.
Pelosi and Schumer criticized the president's decision to sign the executive actions a statement Saturday evening.
"Today's meager announcements by the President show President Trump still does not comprehend the seriousness or the urgency of the health and economic crises facing working families," they wrote. "We're disappointed that instead of putting in the work to solve Americans' problems, the President instead chose to stay on his luxury golf course to announce unworkable, weak and narrow policy announcements to slash the unemployment benefits that millions desperately need and endanger seniors' Social Security and Medicare."
"These policy announcements provide little real help to families," they added. "For instance, not only does the President's announcement not actually extend the eviction moratorium, it provides no assistance to help pay the rent, which will only leave desperate families to watch their debt pile higher. Instead of passing a bill, now President Trump is cutting families' unemployment benefits and pushing states further into budget crises, forcing them to make devastating cuts to life-or-death services."
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell released a statement following Trump's signing celebrating the president's actions while laying into Democrats.
"Weeks ago, some predicted that Speaker Pelosi and Minority Leader Schumer might actually prefer if the American people received no further bipartisan aid before the election. Sadly, they have done nothing to suggest otherwise," he wrote. "I am glad that President Trump is proving that while Democrats use laid-off workers as political pawns, Republicans will actually look out for them."
When asked about how quickly the relief would get to Americans, Trump said, "We think it's going to be very rapid. We want it to be very rapid."
Pressed on comments he made Friday that he expected to be sued over his actions, he backtracked, saying, "What I said is, people can do whatever they want. I guess, maybe they'll bring legal actions. Maybe, they won't. But they won't win. They won't win."
He added, "If we get sued, it's going to be someone who doesn't want people to get money. And that's not going to be a very popular thing."
Pelosi and Schumer had criticized the use of executive orders in a press conference on Friday and said they were committed to negotiations.
"When the economy starts losing ground, the only choice is for a strong package, and yet at times yesterday our Republican friends seemed willing to walk away from the negotiating table to do an unworkable, weak and narrow executive orders, which are not going to do the job for the American people," Schumer said.
