President Trump is considering an executive action to halt evictions in federally backed housing if the White House can’t reach a deal soon with congressional Democrats on another round of coronavirus aid.
“I’m going to stop it, because I’ll do it myself, if I have to,” Mr. Trump told reporters at the White House. “I have a lot of powers with respect to executive orders. And we’re looking at that very seriously right now.”
A nationwide moratorium on evictions in federally backed housing expired last week. Local moratoriums also have expired in dozens of states.
The president said negotiations with Democrats on a new aid package are moving slowly because “all they’re really interested in is bailout money, to bail out radical left governors and radical left mayors like in Portland and places that are so badly run — Chicago, New York City.”
“They want a trillion dollars in bailout money, and a lot of people don’t want to do that because we don’t think it’s right,” Mr. Trump said. “The Democrats have run some very bad states and some very very bad cities, and a lot of people don’t want to give them a trillion dollars to reward them for doing a bad job.”
Democratic leaders are seeking more than $900 million for states and cities whose budgets have been hard hit by the response to the coronavirus pandemic.
“They want bailout money,” Mr. Trump said. “They’re not interested in the people. They’re not interested in unemployment and aren’t interested in evictions.”
Enhanced federal unemployment benefits of $600 per week also expired on Friday as negotiators failed to reach a deal to extend the payments.
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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