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

"They are just another cynical ploy designed to deflect responsibility," Biden said, adding that Americans need a "real leader" who would work to hammer out a deal with lawmakers.

Haggling in Congress

One key Trump order promises to get $400 a week added to Americans' unemployment benefits, while two others offer some protection from evictions and relief for student loans.

The $400 assistance is below the $600 offered in the expired stimulus package.

It may also end up amounting only to $300 extra a week, because Trump said $100 would be provided from state, not federal, budgets — and only if states were willing or able to do so.

A fourth measure — opposed by many Republicans as well as Democrats — ordered a freeze in payroll taxes.

This makes a big headline for Trump but is only a deferral, rather than a cut in the tax.

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"Today's meager announcements show President Trump still does not comprehend the seriousness or the urgency of the health and economic crises facing working families," Pelosi said on Twitter Saturday.

"These policies provide little real help for families," Nancy Pelose continued.

Democrats, Republicans and White House negotiators had worked all last week without coming close to a deal on an overall congressional relief bill for those struggling to make ends meet in the world's richest economy.

Democrats pushed for a massive new $3 trillion stimulus package aimed at propping up the economy, repairing the tattered postal system in time for the presidential election, and giving the unemployed an extra $600 a week.

Democrats later announced they could drop the price tag but refused the Republicans' offer of a $1 trillion package. 

(Writers & Editors: Jim Watson with Sebastian Smith)

Source: http://u.afp.com/32Us