From his private golf course in New Jersey, President Donald Trump said he would take the next round of coronavirus stimulus in his own hands.

What You Need To Know

  • Trump's action renews the additional unemployment benefit, which expired last month

  • Unemployed Americans could receive an additional $400 instead of $600 per week

  • Trump demanded states cover 25% of the cost

  • His actions could face a legal challenge since Congress controls spending

The president signed four executive actions on Saturday, providing unemployment benefits, preventing evictions for renters, deferring student loan payments and creating a payroll tax holiday through the end of the year.

The move came during a highly politicized announcement, where the president slammed Democrats, claiming they were failing to act. 

“We didn’t think we would have to do this because we thought the Democrats would be reasonable, but not only have they been unreasonable, they’ve been ridiculous,” the president said Saturday afternoon.

Congressional negotiations over a new stimulus bill, which had been ongoing for months, were derailed on Friday night.

The president's move was immediately seen as controversial. For one, some questioned whether he had the power to act since Congress controls spending. 

And two, others saw it as an election year distraction.

“He recognizes that for November 3rd he will be held to task because of the millions upon millions of people who are unemployed or have no jobs to go back to," Christina Greer, Fordham University professor, told NY1. "So when he talks about the economic recovery being the greatest in three months, which is a lie, it’s largely because the economy tanked and the president put money over people when the virus first came to the shores of America.”

That said, both Republicans and Democrats are against a payroll tax holiday, arguing it does nothing to help those Americans out of work.

Also the new unemployment benefit would be $400 a week. It had been $600. The president said states would be responsible for 25 percent of the cost. 

“They want to bail out states that have been badly managed by Democrats, badly run by Democrats for many years and in fact in all cases, many decades," the president said. "We didn’t want to have to do that.”

This additional cost comes after Governor Cuomo has been asking for billions of dollars in aid from the federal government. In fact, congressional Democrats in their proposal included nearly $1 trillion dollars in aid to state and local governments. 

The president has rebuffed that.

His move this weekend leaves a lot of proposals off the table. And it's unclear when negotiations with Congress could resume. 

“Well, I am not going to say they aren’t going to come back and negotiate," the president said. "They may very well come back and negotiate.”