Another round of stimulus funds has hit a roadblock in Congress leaving White House officials to recommend the president take executive action as large swaths of the economy remain closed amid the Wuhan coronavirus.
Treasury Sec. Steven Mnuchin, alongside White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, told reporters on Friday that he will be recommending to President Trump the use of executive action to keep the economy afloat as millions of Americans remain affected by the effects of government-ordered lockdowns.
"The chief and I will recommend to the president, based upon our lack of activity today to move forward, with some executive orders," Mnuchin told reporters. "Again, we agree with the speaker that this is not the first choice, but people have run out of the enhanced unemployment so that is something we will recommend an executive order on. As it relates to rental foreclosures, we will recommend an executive order on that and also student loans."
Mnuchin said it will take time to prepare and execute the orders, but Mnuchin told reporters that the president wants to see action in getting assistance out to Americans.
"He realizes -- again, despite what was a big pick up in jobs -- there are still too many people impacted by this," Mnuchin said.
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The July jobs report shows the US economy beating expectations again, adding 1.8 million jobs and unemployment falling from 11.1. percent in the month of June to 10.2 percent in July.
While the Treasury secretary said there are areas of bipartisan agreement among lawmakers on the Hill, they are going to recommend the use of executive action to prevent undue delay. According to Mnuchin, the president may move forward with executive action as early as this weekend.
Meadows and Mnuchin met earlier on Friday with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in a last-ditch effort to save negotiations that have broken down regarding a fifth coronavirus spending bill.
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