White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin told reporters on Capitol Hill Friday that negotiations on another coronavirus stimulus package have totally stalled and that they would urge President Donald Trump to sign a host of executive orders addressing the administration’s top issues in the failed legislation.
“I am extremely disappointed that we came up here today just to hear the same thing repeated over and over again,” Meadows stated immediately following a meeting with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. “Which is the same thing we’ve heard repeated over the past two weeks.” (EXCLUSIVE: Congress, White House Unlikely To Deliver Phase 4 Stimulus Before Recess, Sources Say)
WASHINGTON, DC – AUGUST 04: U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin speaks to the media as White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows listens after a meeting with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) at the U.S. Capitol August 4, 2020 in Washington, DC. Negotiations between Mnuchin, Meadows, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) on a new relief package to help people and businesses weather the COVID-19 pandemic will continue tomorrow. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
“The chief and I will recommend to the president, based upon a lack of activity today, to move forward with some executive orders,” Mnuchin added. “We agree with the Speaker that this is not the first choice, but people have run out of the advanced unemployment, so that is something we will recommend an executive order on.”
“Rental foreclosures, we will recommend an executive order on that,” the Treasury secretary continued. “And also student loans.”
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#BREAKING: Sec. Steven Mnuchin, Mark Meadows will recommend President Trump to move ahead with executive orders on rent, student loans, unemployment: “We agree with the Speaker this is not the first choice but people have run out of the enhanced unemployment.” pic.twitter.com/VY9zqG54Rx
— The Hill (@thehill) August 7, 2020
Larry Kudlow, the White House’s top economist, said during an interview on Fox earlier in the day that he believed Trump would also take executive action to enact a temporary payroll tax cut.
Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer held a press conference ahead of their meeting with Mnuchin and Meadows on Friday, during which they claimed that Republicans had rejected to compromise on a package worth roughly $2 trillion. That figure would have been around $1 trillion higher than the requested package put together by the administration and Senate Republicans, but also $1 trillion less than the cost of the Democrats’ HEROES Act, which passed the House earlier this summer.
Multiple White House aides declined to comment on when the president will sign any of the aforementioned orders.
Trump, during a Friday night press conference at his club in Bedminster, New Jersey, stated that he still wants to negotiate “in good faith,” but would soon sign the executive orders mentioned by Mnuchin and Meadows if the administration cannot reach a compromise with Congress.
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