President
Donald Trump speaks from the South Lawn of the White House on the
fourth day of the Republican National Convention, Thursday, Aug. 27,
2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
WASHINGTON
(AP) — The Trump administration on Friday allowed employers to suspend
collection of some Social Security taxes, although business groups don’t
like the idea and it may create political headaches for Republicans.
Democrats are already saying it would undermine retirement benefits.
The
Treasury Department guidance came late in the day, less than 24 hours
after the conclusion of the Republican National Convention and a speech
by President Donald Trump in which he promised to protect Social
Security and Medicare.
It
allows employers to offer their workers a temporary deferral of the
6.2% payroll tax employees pay into the Social Security Trust Fund for
the rest of this year. The taxes owed would not be forgiven, and instead
would come due in 2021.
It’s
unclear how many employers will take the option, since implementing it
would involve additional effort and expenses on their part.
“The
guidance allows employers to defer withholding and paying the
employee’s portion of the Social Security payroll tax if the employee’s
wages are below a certain amount,” Treasury said in a terse press
release. The earnings cutoff is $104,000 a year.
Trump
had ordered the tax deferral in early August after Congress deadlocked
on the latest coronavirus relief bill. The president argues more money
in workers’ pockets for the rest of this year will translate to a boost
for the economy.
But
major business groups traditionally allied with the White House called
the idea unworkable for employers and unfair to workers. Employers
wanted to avoid the hassle of having to collect the deferred taxes later
on from their workers.
Neil
Bradley, policy chief for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said Friday
night the Treasury guidance leaves many practical questions unanswered.
“However,
it makes clear that employees will be required to pay more taxes
beginning in January to offset any benefit they receive now,” Bradley
said. “The only way to achieve a workable proposal is for Congress and
the administration to come together and enact a change in the law.”
Lawmakers have little desire to tinker with Social Security.
An
analysis by the Chamber found that a hypothetical worker making $75,000
a year would get nearly $179 more every two weeks through the rest of
this year. But that same worker would owe about $1,610 next year. A
worker making $35,000 would get about $83 more biweekly the rest of this
year, and owe just over $750 next year.
Separately,
AARP wrote Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to express concerns about
the potential consequences for Social Security finances.
Regardless of the practical impact of Treasury’s action, it appears Social Security will be thrust into the election maelstrom.
Trump
has also teased that if he’s reelected he would press for a permanent
cut in Social Security taxes. Although the president argues it will help
revive an economy battered by the coronavirus, many economists
disagree.
“At
the end of the year, the assumption that I win, I’m going to terminate
the payroll tax, which is another thing that some of the great
economists would like to see done,” Trump told reporters earlier this
month, adding that “tremendous growth” in the U.S. will cover the costs
of Social Security. “We’ll be paying into Social Security through the
general fund.”
White
House aides insist that Trump is only referring to permanently
forgiving the taxes that would be deferred this year, but the president
himself has repeatedly indicated he has much bigger ideas in mind.
As a candidate in 2016, Trump promised not to cut Social Security and
Medicare, and Democrats say he has now abandoned that promise.
“He
is defunding Social Security and breaking his promise — it’s staring us
in the face,” said Rep. John Larson, D-Conn., who chairs a subcommittee
that oversees the program. Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden
has joined the criticism.
While
the president has the authority to defer collection of the tax in a
national emergency, only Congress can forgive the amounts owed. Trump
directed Mnuchin to work with lawmakers to secure that goal.
Administration officials say any legislation would repay the Social
Security Trust Fund as well.
But congressional Republicans have shown little interest.
Many
economists say the policy is dubious. While it would put more money in
workers’ pockets, people might not spend it if they’re afraid the
government will ask for it back. Also, a payroll tax deferral benefits
those who are working, not the unemployed going without a $600 weekly
benefit from the federal government that has lapsed.
The White House says Trump’s commitment to Social Security is ironclad.
LAKE
CHARLES, La. (AP) — The angry storm surge has receded and the clean up
has begun from Hurricane Laura, but officials along this shattered
stretch of Louisiana coast are warning returning residents they will
face weeks without power or water amid the hot, stifling days of late
summer.
The
U.S. toll from the Category 4 hurricane stood at 14 deaths, with more
than half of those killed by carbon monoxide poisoning from the unsafe
operation of generators.
President
Donald Trump plans on Saturday to tour the damage in Louisiana and
neighboring Texas. He told reporters he considered delaying his Thursday
night speech accepting the Republican Party’s nomination for reelection
because of the storm. But he said that, as “it turned out, we got a
little bit lucky. It was very big, it was very powerful, but it passed
quickly. ”
Across
southwestern Louisiana, people were cleaning up from the destructive
hurricane that roared ashore early Thursday, packing 150-mph (240-kph)
winds. Many were deciding whether they wanted to stay in miserable
conditions or wait until basic services are finally restored.
Lauren
Sylvester returned to her townhouse in Lake Charles on Friday after
heeding a mandatory evacuation order and staying with her mother in a
city about 95 miles (130 kilometers) away.
The
inside of her unit was not directly damaged, but the roof lost
shingles. Around her home, it was a different story. Power lines and
trees were down.
“It’s
still an incredible amount of damage,” said Sylvester, who was heading
back to her mother’s house as soon as she finished cleaning up.
Simply
driving was a feat in Lake Charles, a city of 80,000 residents hit head
on by the hurricane’s eye. Power lines and trees blocked paths or
created one-lane roads that drivers had to navigate with oncoming
traffic. Street signs were snapped off their posts or dangling. No
stoplights worked, making it an exercise in trust with other motorists
sharing the roads.
Mayor
Nic Hunter cautioned that there was no timetable for restoring
electricity and that water-treatment plants “took a beating,” leaving
barely a trickle of water coming out of most faucets. “If you come back
to Lake Charles to stay, make sure you understand the above reality and
are prepared to live in it for many days, probably weeks,” Hunter wrote
on Facebook.
Caravans of utility trucks were met Friday by thunderstorms in the sizzling heat, complicating recovery efforts.
The
Louisiana Department of Health estimated that more than 220,000 people
were without water. Restoration of those services could take weeks or
months, and full rebuilding could take years.
Forty
nursing homes were relying on generators, and assessments were underway
to determine if more than 860 residents in 11 facilities that had been
evacuated could return.
The
much weaker remnants of the hurricane continued to move across the
Southern U.S., unleashing heavy rain and isolated tornadoes. North
Carolina and Virginia could get the brunt of the worst weather Saturday,
forecasters said.
When
the storm moves back over the Atlantic Ocean, forecasters said it could
become a tropical storm again and threaten Newfoundland, Canada.
Louisiana
Gov. John Bel Edwards called Laura the most powerful hurricane to
strike Louisiana, meaning it surpassed even Katrina, which was a
Category 3 storm when it hit in 2005. He said Friday that officials now
believe the surge was as high as 15 feet (4.5 meters).
The hurricane also killed nearly two dozen people in Haiti and the Dominican Republic en route to the Gulf Coast.
In
Lake Charles, chainsaws buzzed and heavy machinery hauled tree limbs in
the front lawn of Stanley and Dominique Hazelton, who rode out the
storm on a bathroom floor. A tree punctured the roof not far from where
the couple was taking cover.
They regretted staying.
“There’s
people without homes,” Stanley Hazelton said. “So it was dumb. We’ll
never do it again. We’ll never stay through another hurricane again.”
___
Associated
Press contributors include Jamie Stengle in Dallas; Janet McConnaughey
in New Orleans; John L. Mone in Holly Beach, Louisiana; Paul J. Weber in
Austin, Texas; Seth Borenstein in Kensington, Maryland; and Adrian
Sainz in Memphis, Tennessee.
A group of Portland, Ore.rioters staged
a sit-in inside the lobby of Mayor Ted Wheeler’s condominium building
Friday evening while others held a loud concert outside. The rioters said they wouldn’t leave until Wheeler meets with them over
their demands that he resign, reduce the Portland Police Bureau budget
and never vote to increase police spending. The protest appeared
to be peaceful as of 10 p.m. local time, although red-paint handprints
were seen on the glass outside the lobby, according to independent
journalist Garrison Davis. Some of the protesters had left by 10 p.m. for unspecified "safety reasons," Davis reported. Late
Friday, Wheeler's office released a statement saying, "We are
monitoring the situation and hope rioters remain peaceful for the
safety of other residents," according to KION-TV reporter Jennifer
Dowling. It was not immediately clear if Wheeler was home during the protest. Earlier, Wheeler tweeted a message, praising the rioters' efforts. “Thank
you Portlanders for a powerful display of solidarity at last night's
demonstrations,” he tweeted. “Racial justice requires the entire
community to come together. Let's continue to focus on the work ahead
and move forward with reform, recovery and resilience plans for PDX.” Earlier
Friday, Wheeler wrote a letter to President Trump, declining an offer
of more federal officers to quell rioting that has plagued the city
since the May 25 death of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis. “We
don’t need your politics of division and demagoguery,” he wrote. “When
you sent he Feds to Portland last month you made the situation far
worse. Your offer to repeat that disaster is a cynical attempt to stoke
fear and distract us from the real work of our city.” Wheeler also condemned violence and vandalism that has marred mostly peaceful protests. “There
is no place for looting, arson or vandalism in our city,” he wrote.
“There is no room here for racist violence or those who wish to bring
their ideology of hate into our community. Those who commit criminal
acts will be apprehended and prosecuted under the law." The
presence and tactics of federal agents who were sent to the city last
month to protect the federal building downtown amid nightly protests
were highly controversial. Agents have since been drawn down. The
local U.S. attorney announced Thursday that 74 people are now facing
federal misdemeanor and felony charges related to protesting, include
assaults on federal officers, arson and damaging federal property. In
a tweet a few hours later, Trump called Wheeler “incompetent” and said
if he couldn’t get control of the city “we will go in and take care of
matters the way they should have been taken care of 100 days ago!” The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A House Republican introduced a bill Friday that would make those charged with violence, looting or vandalism in connection with a protest ineligible for enhanced coronavirus unemployment benefits. The
“Support Peaceful Protest Act” would also make rioters “financially
liable for the cost of federal policing,” according to the bill, which is sponsored by U.S. Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind. “If
you’re convicted of a crime that caused more manpower and law
enforcement officers to deal with it, then perhaps you should be on the
hook to pay for that,” Banks told WIBC-FM in Indianapolis. Banks
said he introduced the bill the day after an older couple who are his
constituents were harassed by protesters while leaving President Trump’s
nomination acceptance speech at the White House on Thursday evening. He
said many rioters have time to participate in violence because they are
unemployed people receiving government benefits -- including increased
federal benefits for those who have lost their jobs amid the pandemic. “What
we’re seeing happen in big cities and around the country are angry
violent mobs showing up at federal properties, tearing down monuments on
federal properties, especially in Washington, D.C. and it’s got to
stop,” he said. “What my bill would do is add new consequences to those
individuals who are breaking the law.” Banks said he supports peaceful protest.
U.S. Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind.
“There are a lot of Americans who are showing up at
peaceful protests,” he said, adding that his bill is a “common sense”
step to add some “accountability for some of these angry mob protests
that are occurring around our country.” “The
people who are acting out in violence are very different from those who
are showing up peacefully and it’s easy to see the difference,” he told
WIBC. He
added that the option for peaceful protest is part of being an
American, but causing harm to another person or defacing federal
property isn’t OK. “We should take those tax dollars away and say
that those who break the law in violent protest shouldn’t receive
taxpayer dollars."
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's defamation lawsuit against The New York Times will go to a trial, according to a federal judge's ruling Friday.
There
was “sufficient evidence to allow a rational finder of fact to find
actual malice by clear and convincing evidence," Judge Jed S. Rakoff of Federal District Court in Manhattan determined. The judge set a trial date for Feb. 1. Palin expressed her gratitude for the judge's ruling, tweeting "Humbled and thankful." The Times expressed a different view. “We’re
disappointed in the ruling but are confident we will prevail at trial
when a jury hears the facts,” a Times spokesperson said in a statement
published in the paper's own report on the ruling. The former GOP
vice-presidential candidate sued the Times for libel after a June
2017 editorial about the shooting of GOP U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise and
others mentioned a map put out years earlier by SarahPAC that had
crosshairs over different Democratic congressional districts. While the
map had been used in reference to ObamaCare, the editorial connected it
to Jared Loughner’s 2011 shooting of then-U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords,
D-Ariz., whose district was among those identified in the map.
The
editorial said the SarahPAC map had Giffords and other Democrats under
crosshairs (though the targets were over their districts). In
discussing the Scalise shooting, the Times said, “Though there’s no sign
of incitement as direct as in the Giffords attack, liberals should of
course hold themselves to the same standard of decency that they ask of
the right.” The
Times published a correction after receiving backlash for the
editorial, noting that there was no link between the map and the
shooting. Fox News' Ronn Blitzer contributed to this report.
President Trump really knows how to push the Democrats Buttons :-)
With a first-ever Republican Convention finale held outside the White House on Thursday night, President Trump and the GOP once again ignored Washington’s rules – and left Democrats fuming. :-)
“Get off our lawn,” former presidential candidate Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., tweeted as Trump formally accepted the GOP nomination in a speech on the South Lawn. The
Republican Party brought together more than 1,000 spectators for the
final night of its quadrennial gathering – the makeshift event prompted
by concerns about the coronavirus. The
party initially planned to hold a traditional-style convention in
Charlotte, N.C., but ultimately decided against that, opting instead to
have most of its speakers deliver their addresses from Washington’s
Mellon Auditorium, just a short distance from the White House. For
Thursday’s finale, however, White House senior adviser Ivanka Trump and
the president spoke to the crowd from a stage on the South Lawn. Two
large Trump campaign signs were posted on either side of the stage,
irking Democrats who vented their frustrations on social media. “My
blood is boiling over political banners at the White House,” former
U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri wrote. “Awful. Just awful.”
“Let’s
be clear,” wrote former presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg, a former
mayor of South Bend, Ind. “It is wrong and illegal to use federal
property and taxpayer resources for partisan campaigning.” “A @JoeBiden presidency cannot come soon enough,” Buttigieg added in another tweet. Other
Democrats seemed bothered that Republicans appeared to be less worried
than them about the coronavirus. Few attendees at the White House event
appeared to be wearing masks, and most of the spectators sat closer to
one another than the recommended social distancing length of six feet. The
GOP also appeared to flout the recommendations on previous nights,
during a Wednesday event in Maryland featuring Vice President Mike Pence
and during a Tuesday speech at the Rose Garden outside the White House
featuring first lady Melania Trump. “Is coronavirus gone? Is
COVID-19 gone?” Biden campaign senior adviser Symone Sanders asked
Thursday on a call with reporters, according to The Associated Press. “I
didn’t see any masks or social distancing happening during the vice
president’s speech last night. So, the reality is, there is a lack of
leadership here.” The Associated Press contributed to this story.
There
was “sufficient evidence to allow a rational finder of fact to find
actual malice by clear and convincing evidence," Judge Jed S. Rakoff of Federal District Court in Manhattan determined.
