More Financial Relief for Americans with Trump’s Latest Executive Order

BEDMINSTER, KOMPAS.com – President Donald Trump signed an executive order that will extend financial relief for Americans affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

The financial assistance, signed on Saturday, came as various polls show a large proportion of voters are unsatisfied with President Donald Trump’s handling of the Covid-19 crisis.

The four measures stipulated in the executive order marked a presidential show of strength.

Trump’s Republican party and White House team failed to agree with its opponent, US Democrats in Congress, on a stimulus package.

Read also: Rift between Trump and Coronavirus Experts Complicate Coronavirus Response

The package aimed to prevent vulnerable Americans from falling through the cracks during these remarkably difficult times.

"We've had it and we're going to save American jobs and provide relief to the American workers," Trump said at a press conference at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, where he was spending the weekend.

With double-digit unemployment, disruption to businesses from social distancing rules, and persistent coronavirus spread, many Americans had been relying on relief measures approved earlier by Congress, but which mostly expired in July.

Trump said his decision to circumvent Congress with executive actions would mean relief money getting "rapidly distributed."

In reality, his measures are likely to face court challenges because Congress controls federal spending, and in any case, they may add up to less money than initially appears.