Washington | An agreement on a plan of additional aid to the Americans can be found between Republicans and Democrats, if the latter show themselves to be “reasonable”, assured Monday the Secretary of the Treasury, Steven Mnuchin, after two weeks of fruitless negotiations and four decrees signed Saturday by Donald Trump.
“A deal can be found if the Democrats are reasonable and want a compromise, but if their attitude is ‘we’d rather not let go than find a deal’ then there won’t be,” he said. on the CNBC channel.
An agreement remains the “first choice” of Donald Trump, his minister again assured.
The White House and elected Democrats in Congress discussed for two weeks on a new plan to help the economy, brought to its knees by the pandemic, without being able to come to an agreement.
The Democrats had proposed in May measures to the tune of 3 trillion dollars, against 1 trillion in the Republican proposal, presented at the end of July.
Donald Trump therefore signed four decrees on Saturday for temporary measures, which provide for a freeze on salary charges, an extended unemployment benefit of $ 400 per week, protections for tenants threatened with eviction and a postponement of the repayment of student loans.
Taken within three months of the presidential election, however, they risk being challenged in court since it is to Congress that the American constitution confers most of the country’s budgetary decisions.
As millions of Americans find themselves unemployed, often with little prospect of short-term employment, “we need to have a fair unemployment system for people who cannot find a job,” said Steven Mnuchin .
The Secretary of the Treasury also insisted on the importance of financing the reopening of schools, a priority of Donald Trump, and of offering new loans to small and medium-sized businesses affected by the crisis.
“Let us not hold our children hostage, nor our small businesses which need to get back to work,” he stressed.
However, Mr. Mnuchin clarified that “there is obviously a limit to what we can lend”.
He also stressed that “direct checks (to households) are a very important part of economic recovery. They go to working and non-working people and, moreover, people have spent the money ”already paid in a first aid plan in March, fueling the main engine of the economy. American: consumption.