UNITED STATES−On Saturday, August 8, President Trump signed a series of four Executive Orders at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey.

President Trump signed a Memorandum for the Secretary of Labor, Eugene Scalia, The Secretary of Homeland Security, Chad Wolf, and the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Peter Gaynor, authorizing the Other Needs Assistance Program for Major Disaster Declarations Related to Coronavirus Disease 2019.

“By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, 42 U.S.C. 5121-5207 (the “Stafford Act”), and in light of Proclamation 9994 of March 13, 2020 (Declaring a National Emergency Concerning the Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Outbreak), which declared a national emergency by reason of the threat posed by the outbreak of the novel (new) coronavirus known as SARS-CoV-2, it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1. Policy. Protective measures enacted by States and localities across the country to prevent loss of life from COVID-19 have resulted in millions of Americans becoming unemployed and in need of assistance. My Administration, recognizing the acute financial distress affecting families across the country, has worked to quickly provide billions of dollars in relief to supplement unemployment benefits and help businesses keep their workers employed, in addition to zeroing Federal student loan interest and delaying Tax Day. In total, nearly $3 trillion has been appropriated for emergency funding related to COVID-19.” – President Trump

President Trump then laid out the details of the Executive Orders. Full-text may be found on the White House web page.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/memorandum-authorizing-needs-assistance-program-major-disaster-declarations-related-coronavirus-disease-2019/

The U.S. Department of Treasury will be deferring payroll tax obligations in light of the ongoing COVID-19 disaster. The payroll tax cut (holiday) is for those individuals earning less than $100,000 annually.

The order includes the extension of unemployment insurance that expired last week. The benefits have decreased from $600 to $400 weekly.

This order includes an eviction moratorium for renters that expired last month.

This order will also defer student loans through the end of this year.
These orders come after foiled efforts for Congress to come to an agreement on a stimulus package due to the Democrats in Congress attempts to include unrelated items in the latest stimulus package such as mail-in voting.

On the same day, President Trump also signed a bill with three parts to benefit Veterans.

HR 886 – Veterans Treatment Court Coordination Act Of 2019, establishing the Veterans Treatment Court Program.

H.R. 3504, the “Ryan Kules and Paul Benne Specially Adaptive Housing Improvement Act of 2019,” which amends various VA authorities related to the specially adapted housing, education benefit, work-study, and home loan programs; and
H.R. 4920, the “Department of Veterans Affairs Contracting Preference Consistency Act of 2020,” which provides for an exception to certain VA small business contracting requirements.