During a press conference on Monday, President Donald Trump said that he is considering an executive order that would unilaterally suspend evictions across the United States.
“I could do that if I want, and I want to do that. I don’t want people to be evicted.” Trump also said that he is considering suspending payroll taxes.
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The president continued, “I can do that also through executive order, so we’ll be talking about that.”
The comments come amid negotiations on Capitol Hill for the CARES 2 package to support Americans during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
The first CARES Act established a temporary moratorium on evictions for all rental units that received some kind of federal financing. However, that moratorium ended last month.
According to The New York Post, the number of people living in some form of federal housing is upwards of 23 million.
“They’re thrown out viciously. It’s not their fault. It’s not their fault. It’s China’s fault,” the president said as he continues to place all blame on China for the virus which has killed over 150,000 Americans.
He also said that he doesn’t want evictions to spike because it could send millions of Americans to homeless shelters.
“They oftentimes will go to a shelter with tremendous numbers of other people, and the virus will spread, and we don’t want that.”
One of the president’s advisers, Stephen Moore, and conservative economist Phil Kerpen wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal urging Trump to suspend payroll taxes to help stimulate the economy.
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However, other economists have panned the idea saying that it only impacts those Americans who are still working. Further, it would take millions of dollars away from social security which is directly funded by payroll taxes.
The idea of suspending the payroll tax has not been well-received by congressional leaders of either party.
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