Trump says coronavirus relief executive order could come by the end of the week 'if Democrats continue to hold relief hostage'

President Trump threatened to take coronavirus relief into his own hands “if Democrats continue to hold relief hostage.”

Trump said if coronavirus negotiations continued to stall, he would sign an executive order deferring the payroll tax until the end of the year, starting July 1 retroactively, and extend enhanced unemployment benefits.

He did not state how much those benefits would be -- $600 per week was given in additional federal benefits under the last relief bill but Republicans have proposed cutting that to $200 per week.

The president also said his executive order would defer student loan payments and forgive interest “until further notice.”

Trump said lawyers were drawing up the executive order currently and "it could be by the end of the week" that he signs it. He said, "probably we get sued" but he isn't worried about the legality because "everything gets sued."

Trump earlier in the week first floated the idea of taking executive action to halt evictions and suspend payroll taxes. Trump has long pushed the idea that a payroll tax cut would spur hiring.

In July, the president said he told Republicans they could drop the idea of a cut to the payroll tax, the tax that finances Social Security and Medicare, from the next coronavirus relief bill because Democrats wouldn’t allow it.

“Based on that I told Republicans, I said I think a payroll tax would be good, but we’re not going to get it from Democrats. So you still need Democrat votes. I would like to see it but if we're not going to get their votes, I guess we have to go on to the next thing,” he said.

Lawmakers ended a week of negotiations on coronavirus relief without a deal Friday, or even a clear path forward, amid growing concerns that talks may collapse altogether.

Both parties had a self-imposed Friday deadline. Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said Thursday that if they missed it, there's "no sense" in continuing discussion.... (Read more)

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