US President Donald Trump said Thursday he wanted to declare a moratorium on tenant evictions while negotiations bogged down in Congress to reach a gigantic new plan to support the economy, ravaged by the pandemic of COVID - 12.
France Media Agency
"I will do it, yes [...]. I will do it concerning the evictions ", indicated Donald Trump, without further details, on WTAM radio 1100.
Congress approved in March a titanic plan to support the economy that included a moratorium to prevent the evictions of millions of Americans hit by the crisis and no longer able to pay their rent. But it came to an end at the end of July.
Tightened by the US presidential election deadline in less than three months, negotiations to reach a new support plan remain unsuccessful after two weeks of daily meetings.
The White House warned that if no agreement was found by Friday, Donald Trump could act by decree on certain pressing points: these tenant evictions but also an extension of unemployment insurance paid by the federal State in addition to those of the 32 States, and a temporary reduction in wage costs.
Several trillions of dollars separate the support plans proposed so far by the Democrats and the Republicans: the latter presented at the end of July an envelope of 1000 billion dollars, while the Democrats had adopted in May, in the House, their own bill which amounts to 3000 billion dollars.
Among the main points of disagreement is the unemployment benefit of 400 dollars per week, which was created in March to help millions of new unemployed to face the deep crisis caused by the pandemic, which ended on 19 July.
For some Republicans, this check discourages the unemployed from looking for a job and they therefore propose to lower it to 200 dollars. The White House is negotiating a higher envelope, of around 400 but Democrats on Thursday reaffirmed that they wanted 600 dollars.
In total, 31 millions of people benefited from it in mid-July. At the same time last year, 1.7 million Americans were receiving unemployment assistance.
The White House is currently negotiating directly with the Democrats, the majority in the House of Representatives. But any deal will then have to satisfy the Republicans, who control the Senate.
