Don't be fooled: Trump's executive orders are a sham.
Last Saturday, Trump issued executive orders of questionable legality that he boasted would provide economic relief to those suffering from his collapsing economy. It will come as no surprise that they amount to phony PR blarney.
More than two months ago, the Democratic House passed the HEROES Act to address a wide range of pandemic & economic issues and provide emergency relief to people who desperately need it. McConnell and the Republican-controlled Senate refused to even discuss it, let alone vote on it. When the emergency provisions of the CARES Act expired at the end of July, Republicans proposed a totally inadequate HEALS Act that provided more tax-cuts for wealthy corporations, more weapons for the Pentagon, and business immunity (impunity) from COVID-negligence lawsuits. They couldn't get enough support for it to even bring it to the floor.
Trump then seized the opportunity for some election self-promotion by issuing three executive orders of dubious legality. He boasted that they would provide the emergency relief that Americans need, but his orders are worthless shams that will do nothing for us, and one of them contains a stealth attack on Social Security and Medicare. Negotiations between Democrats, Republicans, and the White House have broken down, Congress is on holiday, the pandemic rages unchecked with hospitals overwhelmed and testing resources still inadequate, millions of people are out of work without funds to sustain themselves, and tens of millions now face imminent eviction and foreclosure.
Let’s break down what Trump’s executive orders actually do:
Extended Unemployment:
The $400/week unemployment benefit (down from the $600 that Republicans refused to renew) isn't actually $400, it's $300 plus an additional $100/week that the states are required to kick in. But Trump has no authority over the states, and the states are broke and don't have the money. Since his order requires people to qualify for the state's $100 in order to receive the federal $300, few (if any) of the unemployed are going to get anything at all.
And for the few who do qualify for the federal $300, the money they receive will be taken from the federal Disaster Relief Fund (DRF) just as hurricane and fire season gets into full swing. Essentially, he's stolen half of the $70 billion that FEMA set aside for 2020 hurricanes, fires, and other natural disasters to use for his personal reelection flim-flam.
Read the full text of the “extended unemployment” EO here.
Payroll Tax Suspension:
The temporary suspension of payroll tax through the end of the year does absolutely nothing for the vast number of unemployed because the only people who pay that tax are those who still have jobs. And as currently written, workers whose payroll taxes are suspended will be hit with a big tax-repayment bill in January. Because they still have their jobs, employees don't need temporary pandemic-related emergency economic aid. What they may need is a permanent pay raise and a minimum wage of $15/hour, but that's not on Trump's agenda.
Trump clearly intends to run on a promise to make the payroll tax cut permanent. But the taxes he just suspended (and wants to cut permanently) fund half of Social Security and Medicare -- two government programs that Republicans have always hated and want to cripple and privatize. Cutting half their funding is just the way to do it.
Read the full text of the payroll tax deferment EO here.
Eviction Moratorium:
Republicans allowed the national moratorium on evictions & foreclosures to expire. Despite Trump's bombast, his executive order isn't a moratorium -- it has no force of law. Instead it's an unenforceable policy statement calling on government agencies to "consider whether any measures temporarily halting residential evictions of any tenants for failure to pay rent are reasonably necessary," suggesting that they look for funds to help those might need financial assistance to remain in their homes, and "encourage and provide assistance to authorities, owners, landlords, and [others] in minimizing evictions and foreclosures."
Meanwhile, in areas not covered by state or local eviction moratoriums, a huge wave of eviction proceedings is now underway. Out of the 110 million who live in rental housing, 30 million are at risk of eviction by the end of September. Foreclosures take longer, but millions of home-owners are now at risk of becoming homeless on our street.
Read the full text of the “eviction moratorium” EO here.
Student Loan Deferment:
Payments for federal student loans will be deferred through Dec. 31, 2020, and federal borrowers won’t have to pay interest during the deferment period. This will not apply to private student loan borrowers, and may not be available for certain students. This executive order is actually not that bad and simply appears to extend the student loan provision of the CARES Act, with a caveat. Unlike the CARES Act, the payments that are deferred likely own’t count toward loan forgiveness. It’s unclear whether Trump has legal authority to suspend interest on student loans.
Read the full text of the student loan deferment EO here.
So, in short: Trump’s executive orders do little to help Americans, and are actually harmful to many.
But that’s not the worst news - the really disturbing wrinkle is that Congress appears to have stopped fighting for real aid. At the time of writing, they have gone on August recess. We have to demand that our Representatives and Senators get back to Congress and to the work of providing for Americans in our time of need.
Call your Members of Congress today and tell them: get back to work on COVID-19 aid!