President Trump issues four executive actions aimed at restoring some of the CARES Act programs on Saturday
The tussle over extending expired CARES Act assistance continues, with President Trump issuing four executive actions aimed at restoring some of the programs on Saturday, prompting some lawmakers (from both parties) to argue the president was acting unconstitutionally by usurping Congress’s power of the purse. That debate continued into Monday, when the orders spurred both sides to return to the negotiating table, which many claim was their actual aim. We don’t think the much-discussed deferral of payroll tax collection is all that likely to do significant damage to Social Security.
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In a nutshell, the four executive actions do the following:
- Direct the Treasury to defer collection of payroll taxes for all workers making less than $104,000, with payments for the rest of 2020 due next year
- Use the federal disaster relief funds to extend extra federal unemployment assistance through early December, but with weekly payments reduced from $600 to $400. Of that $400, $300 is from the feds; the order asks the states to kick in an extra $100 per week
- Asked the Treasury and Department of Housing and Urban Development to study ways to provide funding for people struggling to make housing payments; asked the Federal Housing Finance Agency to see what authority it has to prevent evictions
- Extend student loan relief through the end of the COVID crisis
The debate over constitutionality and the separation of powers centers on the first two items. Congress holds the power of the purse, which in plain English means it decides all taxing and spending. But with a Federal emergency declared and funds already set aside for relief via earlier legislation, the White House argues it has the power to disburse disaster relief funds. As for the payroll tax, because the Treasury would simply be deferring collection, the administration argues this isn’t an actual change to the tax code. The money would still be due, just later.
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