Happy Monday and welcome back to On The Money. I’m Naomi Jagoda, in for Sylvan Lane, and here’s your nightly guide to everything affecting your bills, bank account and bottom line.
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LEADING THE DAY: Trump claims he, not governors, has authority on opening state economies
President Trump on Monday claimed that he, not state governors, has the ultimate authority to loosen restrictions on states as the coronavirus outbreak eases, an assertion disputed by legal experts.
“For the purpose of creating conflict and confusion, some in the Fake News Media are saying that it is the Governors decision to open up the states, not that of the President of the United States & the Federal Government. Let it be fully understood that this is incorrect,” Trump tweeted Monday morning.
“It is the decision of the President, and for many good reasons. With that being said, the Administration and I are working closely with the Governors, and this will continue,” Trump continued. “A decision by me, in conjunction with the Governors and input from others, will be made shortly!”
However, legal experts who spoke to The Hill said that, while Trump can issue federal regulations to prevent the spread of diseases, he does not have the authority to reverse a public health restriction put in place at the state or local level.
Read more from The Hill’s Morgan Chalfant here: https://bit.ly/3bigP2R
RELATED: Governors form regional groups on reopening the economy
- The governors of six states in the northeast are joining together to create joint recommendations on how they can reopen their economies in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic.
- And the governors of Washington, California and Oregon on Monday announced they were working on a joint plan for reopening their respective economies once it is safe to lift coronavirus-related restrictions.
Dem leaders to GOP: ‘Stop posturing’ on stalled coronavirus aid:
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) urged Republicans to “stop posturing” and negotiate on an “interim” coronavirus relief bill that is currently stalemated by partisan divisions.
“We have real problems facing this country, and it’s time for the Republicans to quit the political posturing by proposing bills they know will not pass either chamber and get serious and work with us towards a solution,” Schumer and Pelosi said in a joint statement on Monday.
Their comments come after the Senate blocked two coronavirus relief bills — one from Republicans and an attempt to expand it by Democrats — on Thursday.
Read more from The Hill’s Jordain Carney here: https://bit.ly/2RAjOLW
RELATED: Both sides will have to wait a bit longer after the Senate punted work on coronavirus aid to Thursday. The chamber adjourned Monday after a pro forma session.
GOOD TO KNOW:
- Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and other Democrats pressed Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia on Monday to broadly apply beefed-up unemployment benefits authorized by the $2.2 trillion coronavirus relief package signed into law last month.
- White House trade adviser Peter Navarro criticized television health experts encouraging the government to remain closed.
- Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is pushing for universal paid sick leave and “premium pay” for essential workers as part of Congress’s fourth coronavirus aid bill.
- Debt held by the public is on track to exceed the size of the entire U.S. economy this year for the first time since World War II, according to a new analysis by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB).
- A sixth-month pause on certain mortgage payments mandated by the coronavirus economic rescue bill is causing confusion and risking financial peril across the housing industry.
- Theaters, museums, music venues, comedy clubs and other entertainment venues are facing a longer and more precarious road to recovery than other sectors of the economy affected by the pandemic.
- The IRS said that it deposited the first coronavirus relief payments into taxpayers’ bank accounts on Saturday.
FROM THE HILL’S OPINION SECTION:
- “The next stimulus packages should help seniors,” by Max Richtman, president and CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare: https://bit.ly/34wzQM4
- “A government agency cannot change the terms of Congress’s COVID-19 relief bill,” by Jeffrey McCoy, an attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation: https://bit.ly/3emVUh0