With talks for a new coronavirus stimulus package stalled, President Donald Trump planned a rare Saturday press conference at which he may announce a package of coronavirus stimulus measures that he will seek to implement unilaterally by executive action.
Trump summoned the news media to a 3:30 p.m. EDT announcement at his golf resort in Bedminster, N.J., where he is spending the weekend.
Although the White House remained mum on details, Trump has spoken about taking executive action to implement or extend some stimulus provisions.
He wants to extend emergency unemployment benefits. The payment was set at $600 a week until it expired last weekend after Congress failed to reach a deal to extend it, but Trump may choose a lower figure.
Trump also wants to extend a ban on evictions during the pandemic.
Both of those measures have wide support among Democrats.
But Trump also has backed an unpopular idea to enact a moratorium on payroll tax collection, a provision that would primarily benefit wealthy taxpayers.
Republicans and Democratic lawmakers alike dislike the proposal because it economists say it will have little immediate boost on the troubled economy, and has a very high price tag.
Both sides prefer putting that money into a new round of cash payments to Americans, which are more likely to immediately be spent on bills or consumer products.
There is significant dispute about the legality of any unilateral presidential action enacting new spending like the unemployment benefit since the Constitution grants the power of the purse to Congress, not the president.
Trump is signaling that he has lost patience with the stalled talks with Democratic leaders in Congress for a giant new stimulus package.
Democrats passed a sprawling $3 trillion plan months ago. After sitting on their hands for several weeks, Republicans and the White House eventually hammered out a much smaller $1 trillion package.
Talks for a compromise have made little progress.
Trump needs a potent spending plan to boost his chances of reelection. But GOP lawmakers are adamantly opposed to what they see as another Democratic budget-busing splurge.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., believe Trump needs a deal more than they do, giving them confidence the president will yield as he has done in past budget disputes.
