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news analysis
The president is showing little urgency or strategy as the economic recovery stalls ahead of the November election.
WASHINGTON — The United States just suffered its worst economic quarter in nearly 75 years. Its recovery from the depths of a pandemic-induced recession has stalled, as coronavirus deaths rise again across the country. President Trump has what appears to be one final chance to cut a deal with Congress to ensure hard-hit workers and businesses do not collapse before the November election.
He has shown little interest in taking it.
Rather than push for a comprehensive plan that could win support from both Democrats and Republicans, Mr. Trump first embraced big-ticket items that Senate Republicans did not want and that would do little to help millions of struggling workers and businesses. That included a payroll tax cut and an expanded tax break for business lunches, along with $1.75 billion to rebuild the F.B.I.’s headquarters in Washington.
He has since derided efforts to find middle ground with Democratic leaders on a broad economic rescue package, declaring on Wednesday that “we really don’t care” about several possible parts of it.
Mr. Trump and his aides waited until the 11th hour to engage Democrats over expiring unemployment benefits that have been a lifeline to millions of workers, and Democratic leaders have dismissed his last-minute proposal to temporarily extend them. Over the past week, the president has publicly called for stimulus measures that were not included in the $1 trillion proposal that his administration and Senate Republicans unveiled on Monday, like continuing a national moratorium on evictions.
On Friday, he used a series of Twitter posts to slam Democrats for not agreeing to a temporary extension of the $600-per-week unemployment supplement, a plan that he and his aides opposed until very recently. “The Do Nothing Democrats are more interested in playing politics than in helping our deserving people,” he wrote.
The president’s approach to the negotiations over another round of federal stimulus for the ailing economy has confounded economists, lobbyists and lawmakers, who say they are baffled by Mr. Trump’s apparent lack of a plan to nail down another rescue package that he can sign into law.