Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Friday afternoon that he and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows will recommend President Donald Trump “move forward with some executive orders,” including unemployment benefits, due to the lack of progress made with Democrats on the next economic stimulus deal.
“We do agree with the Speaker [of the House Nancy Pelosi] that this is not the first choice, but people have run out of the enhanced unemployment and that is something that we will recommend an executive order on,” Mnuchin said during a press briefing.
Executive orders also will be recommended on rental foreclosures and student loans, added the Treasury secretary.
President Donald Trump “would like us to make a deal,” Mnuchin said. “Unfortunately, we did not make any progress today. We discussed the same issues.”
To the extent that Democrats are “willing to make new proposals,” he continued, Meadows “and I will be back here any time to listen to new proposals.”
Republicans have asked Democrats for specific compromises on state and local aid as well as unemployment benefits, Mnuchin explained.
“We have not received proposals on that,” he said. However, there are other areas “where we have made a lot of progress.”
“We do agree. Legislation is better for the American people” the Treasury secretary stated. “We are very focused on kids and jobs, these are critical issues.”