Trump “Not Bluffing” Over Stimulus Executive Order Amid Washington Stalemate

Negotiations between the Trump administration and Democratic congressional leaders on another round of stimulus broke down Thursday night. The deadlock between both sides could result in President Trump issuing an executive order to re-appropriate money already appropriated by Congress and instead redirect it toward restoring the federal money for the unemployed, as well as reinstating the federal moratorium on evictions. 

Axios reports Friday morning the White House is “finalizing a series of executive orders addressing key coronavirus stimulus priorities if negotiations with Congress fall apart.” 

With both sides still far apart, one official told Axios that they “wouldn’t be surprised that, if something gets left off the table, we’d be like ‘we can take this executive action too and be able to win on it anyway.” 

Axios notes that the president could sign “executive orders as early as today [Friday].” 

The official said the president is anxious about being in control of the situation. Top aides and Republicans have said if they don’t get another round of stimulus passed in a timely matter, it will make the White House look bad ahead of elections. 

“It’s an election year. We need to get this done. We need to pump money into the economy and the only ones who benefit politically from not doing that are [House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi, [Senate Minority Leader Chuck] Schumer and [Joe] Biden,” one House Republican told Axios.

House Democrats have already passed a bill, though Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell declared it a “$3 trillion-dollar wish-list.” Republicans have a bill of their own, which is around a trillion-dollars.

Here’s the comparison of the Democratic and Republic stimulus plans. 

President Trump was on Fox & Friends Wednesday morning, insisting the Democrats have stalled talks. He said he might suspend the payroll tax to supercharge the economy ahead of the election. 

“Well, I may do it myself,” Trump said in an interview with Fox & Friends. 

However, many political pundits and constitutional law experts believe the president may not hold the authority to pass additional relief measures via executive order: 

 “Congress has to pass tax laws, not the president,” Seth Hanlon, a tax-policy expert at the Center for American Progress, told Yahoo Money.

“He has limited authority to postpone tax filing and payment deadlines, in instances of disasters.”

Top Trump economic adviser Larry Kudlow made his rounds on Friday morning touting the jobs number.

Kudlow told Fox Business that both political parties are in a stalemate over stimulus talks. He said the president is not bluffing on using an executive order to pass additional relief measures for Americans, adding that a payroll tax cut could be seen as well.