尽管总统唐纳德·特朗普上周末签署了行政行动,以解决他的政府在COVID-19救援方面的一些最紧迫的优先事项,许多国会的优先事项被忽略了。
特朗普周六发布了一项行政命令和三份备忘录,内容涉及失业福利、租房者和房主保护、工资税延期和学生贷款延期。
在国会民主党人未能采取行动、谈判陷入僵局后,他将此举称为快速的行政行动。
但是国会山的两个政党的成员都有行政行为没有涉及的问题,他们称这些问题是至关重要的。
此外,总统授权联邦资金的权力有限,根据宪法,联邦资金必须得到国会的批准。
2020年8月8日,在新泽西州贝德明斯特的新闻发布会上,唐纳德·特朗普总统签署了一项延长冠状病毒经济救助的行政命令。吉姆·沃森/法新社通过盖蒂图像
下面我们来看一下五个不包括在特朗普的行政行动中的关于COVID-19救济的关键国会优先事项。
1.对学校的支持
特朗普总统解决了一些学生的需求,这些学生为了资助他们的学业而负债,但对于未来几周重返小学、中学和大学课堂的数百万学生来说,特朗普的行政行为帮不了他们什么。
随着这种病毒在美国继续肆虐,学校管理人员表示,他们需要更多资金来实施疾病控制和预防中心的指导方针,以确保学生在课堂上的安全,包括帮助为社会远程学习创造更多的课堂空间,为额外的卫生设施提供资金,以及在许多情况下,为启动部分或全部远程学习提供财政援助。
民主党和共和党的国会提案都包括对学校的资助。民主党最初的提案包括10亿美元用于帮助学校,而共和党最初的反提案包括1050亿美元。这笔钱将用于学校和大学,帮助他们实施学生安全标准。
2.测试、治疗和疫苗开发的额外帮助
在大多数国会谈判中,两党都同意,为卫生保健需求和疫苗开发追加资金将是下一个COVID-19救援计划的重要组成部分。
民主党人认为,在疫苗上市之前,测试和治疗是一项必不可少的拯救生命的措施,并主张在这些方面以及疫苗开发方面提供资金。
众议院议长佩洛西周四在CNBC说:“我们必须进行这种全面的、战略性的测试,这将导致追踪,然后导致治疗,等等。”
共和党人也主张为快速疫苗开发提供资金,认为除非病毒被抑制,否则经济无法完全恢复。
但特朗普周六的行政行动并未涉及该流行病任何基于健康的方面。在他的行动中没有为医疗保健提供者提供额外的帮助,也没有强调检测、治疗或疫苗接种。
3.支持薪资保障计划
目前全国有500万中小型企业幸存下来,部分原因是在冠状病毒救助的最后阶段实施了一项联邦计划,该计划允许企业从联邦政府获得可原谅的贷款,以保证员工的工资。
尽管仍有一些贷款资金,但通过该项目申请资金的窗口现已过去。
国会在如何继续资助该项目的问题上意见不一,但至少对小企业进行某种形式的援助是必要的这一信念在国会中获得了相当广泛的两党支持。
如果没有这项计划,许多小企业可能会破产,这可能会增加需要联邦失业保险的人数。尽管特朗普在周六确实谈到了失业问题,但他没有提到薪资保障计划。
4.对州和地方政府的援助
在特朗普的行政行动下,在抗击病毒的资金激增后,在某些情况下资金紧张的州和地方政府将得不到额外支持。
民主党提议的救济法案的核心是向州和地方政府提供1万亿美元的援助。共和党人对这一想法不以为然,他们认为之前的冠状病毒救助计划中分配的州和地方资金大部分没有被各州使用。
在周一上午的CNBC采访中,财政部长史蒂文·姆努钦称这一1万亿美元的提议“荒谬”
特朗普总统辩称,许多州甚至在疫情爆发前就陷入了财政混乱,并表示冠状病毒不应被用作救助管理不善的州的借口。他指责民主党人非常专注于向赤字的民主党州提供援助。
“他们希望能够弥补许多年——在某些情况下是几十年——糟糕的管理。我们不能这么做。”
2020年8月6日,DC首都华盛顿,参议院多数党领袖米奇·麦康奈尔走向参议院会议厅。
2020年8月6日,DC首都华盛顿,参议院多数党领袖米奇·麦康奈尔走向参议院会议厅。
5.学校、医疗保健提供者和企业的责任保护
从参议院多数党领袖米奇·麦康奈尔(Mitch McConnell)在5月份的一次长时间立法休会后回到参议院的那一刻起,他就开始着手实施对学校、企业和医疗保健提供者的法律保护。
这些责任保护措施虽然不受民主党人欢迎,但对麦康奈尔和许多共和党参议员来说却是一条红线。他们一直警告说,学校、小企业和医疗保健提供者可能会面临“第二次无意义的诉讼大流行”,因为他们试图在这场大流行中重新开放。
这些责任保护是共和党提案的支柱,但它们没有被纳入特朗普周末的行政命令。
目前,这些实体仍有可能对在工作、上课或寻求治疗时感染病毒的个人承担责任。
5 pandemic relief issues not addressed by Trump's executive actions
Although PresidentDonald Trumpthis past weekend signed executive actions to address some of his administration's most pressing priorities on COVID-19 relief, many congressional priorities have been left out.
Trump issued an executive order and three memoranda on Saturday dealing with unemployment benefits, protections for renters and home owners, a payroll tax deferral and a deferral of student loans.
He branded the move as swift administrative action after congressional Democrats failed to act and negotiations stalled.
But members of both political parties on Capitol Hill had concerns not covered by the executive actions - issues they call essential.
undefinedMORE: Trump signs 4 executive actions on coronavirus relief
In addition, the president has limited authority to mandate federal funding, which, under the Constitution, Congress must approve.
Here's a look at five key congressional priorities on COVID-19 relief not included in Trump's executive actions.
1. Support for schools
President Trump addressed the needs of some students who have taken on debt to fund their schooling, but for millions of students returning to elementary, secondary and university classrooms in the coming weeks, Trump's executive actions do little to help them.
As the virus continues to rage in the U.S., school administrators have said they need more funding to implement Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines to keep students safe in the classroom, including assistance in creating more classroom space for socially distanced learning, funding for additional sanitation, and in many cases, financial assistance to launch partial or complete remote learning.
Congressional proposals from both Democrats and Republicans included funding for schools. The initial Democrat proposal including $1 billion to assist schools, and the initial Republican counter-proposal included $105 billion. That money would have gone to schools and universities to help them implement safety standards for students.
2. Additional aid for testing, treating and vaccine development
In most of the congressional negotiations, both parties agreed that additional funding for health care needs and vaccine development would be an essential part of the next COVID-19 relief package.
Democrats have argued that testing and treating is an essential lifesaving measure until a vaccine is on the market, and have advocated for funding on these fronts as well as vaccine development.
"We have to have this comprehensive, strategic testing and that leads to tracing and then that leads to treatment, et cetera," House Speaker Pelosi said on CNBC Thursday.
Republicans have also advocated funding for rapid vaccine development, arguing that the economy cannot fully recover until the virus is tamped down.
But Trump's executive actions on Saturday do not address any health-based aspects of the pandemic. There is no additional aid for health care providers in his actions, nor is there emphasis on testing, treatment or vaccination.
3. Support for the Paycheck Protection Program
Five million small and mid-sized businesses across the country are currently surviving in part because of a federal program implemented in the last stage of coronavirus relief that allows businesses to take out forgivable loans from the federal government in order to keep employees on their payrolls.
The window to apply for funding through this program has now passed despite the fact that some funding for loans remains.
Congress was torn on how to proceed with funding the program, but the belief that at least some sort of aid to small businesses was necessary enjoyed fairly broad bi-partisan support in Congress.
Without the program, many small businesses could go under, potentially increasing the amount of people requiring federal unemployment insurance. Though Trump did address unemployment on Saturday, he made no mention of the Paycheck Protection Program.
4. Assistance to state and local governments
State and local governments that are in some cases cash-strapped after surging funds to combat the virus, would receive no additional support under Trump's executive actions.
A centerpiece of the Democrat-proposed relief legislation is $1 trillion in aid to state and local governments. Republicans are cool to the idea, arguing that much of the state and local funding allocated in the previous coronavirus relief package had not been utilized by the states.
In a CNBC interview Monday morning, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin called the $1 trillion proposal "absurd."
President Trump has argued that many states were in financial disarray even before the pandemic, and has said that coronavirus should not be used as an excuse to bail out poorly managed states. He's accused Democrats of being singularly focused on getting aid to Democratic states running deficits.
"They want to be able to make up for many, many years — in some cases, decades — of bad management. We can’t do that," Trump said Saturday.
5. Liability protections for schools, health care providers and businesses
From the moment that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell returned to the Senate floor after a prolonged legislative break in May, he set his sites on the implementation of legal protections for schools, businesses and health care providers.
These liability protections, though unpopular with Democrats, were a red line for McConnell and many Senate Republicans who consistently warned of a "second pandemic of frivolous lawsuits" that schools, small businesses and health care providers could face as they attempted to re-open in the midst of the pandemic.
These liability protections were a pillar of the Republican proposal, but they were not included in Trump's executive orders over the weekend.
At the moment, these entities could still potentially be held liable for individuals contracting the virus while working, attending class or seeking treatment.