Republicans, who are pressing for a narrow recovery measure, are likely to take the jobs report, which beat economists’ expectations, as confirmation of their argument that it is time to scale back federal help, including slashing a $600 weekly enhanced unemployment benefit. Democrats warned that the report showed a significant slowdown in the pace of job creation from June, giving them additional grounds to call for robust continued aid, including a full reinstatement of the jobless payments, which lapsed last week.
Economists expect a further slowdown for August.
“There is lingering concern that the fiscal package talks in D.C. are gridlocked, and news that the economy continues to add jobs may reduce the sense of urgency to get a deal done,” David Donabedian, chief investment officer of CIBC Private Wealth Management, said shortly after the report was released. But, he added, he still expects lawmakers to strike a compromise next week.
The Thursday talks, held in the Capitol Hill offices of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, turned so contentious that Ms. Pelosi said Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff, had slammed the table at one point, an accusation Mr. Meadows denied.
On Friday, Mr. Meadows, Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary, and Mr. Schumer gathered in Ms. Pelosi’s office around 1:30 p.m. for a negotiation session.
Mr. Trump has threatened to act on his own if no deal can be reached, telling reporters that he could move as soon as Friday or Saturday to sign executive orders to forestall evictions, suspend payroll-tax collection and provide unemployment aid and student loan relief. But it was not clear that he had the power to do so without Congress, which controls spending — or whether any actions he takes that survive court challenges would suffice to prop up the slowing recovery.
Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/07/world/covid-19-news.html
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