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As a former senior career official with three decades of federal service, I have long experience in how federal government responds during times of crisis to reduce hardship - and the rules for ensuring that taxpayer dollars are used lawfully. 1/10
Expanded jobless benefits can bring enormous relief to families and boost the economy. Rental assistance can stave off eviction. Nutrition benefits can keep food on the table during tough times. 2/10
And delay matters. When help is delayed to a large business with access to credit, they can often wait for the help. When help is delayed to a family that doesn’t have the money to pay the rent or buy food, the consequences can be severe. 3/10
Providing real help requires legislation that appropriates resources for specific relief programs and purposes. And largescale stimulus packages always require legislative compromise, especially during times of divided government. 4/10
I’ve been a witness to countless budget and legislative negotiations, providing technical assistance to policy officials hammering out compromises. It isn’t always pretty but it is the only way to get new resources for priorities. 5/10
Executive actions, by contrast, can’t create new resources or change program rules beyond what is established in the law. They are generally tools for telling agencies to make different priority choices with their existing resources or program authorities. 6/10
But executive actions can be used to distract - to make it seem like the government is taking action when it really doesn’t have the legal authority or resources to do anything very different at all. 7/10
That is what happened yesterday. President Trump issued executive actions that don’t actually guarantee jobless benefits, that don’t actually halt evictions, that don’t actually provide rental assistance, and that don’t reduce payroll taxes. 8/10
What the Presidential Memoranda and EO issued yesterday do is try to confuse and change the subject. 9/10
But we are facing a deep crisis that is causing enormous harm to millions of children and adults. Distraction during good times wastes time. Distraction today leads to homes with empty cupboards and economic distress. 10/10
