| CONGRESS: Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Tuesday told Congress that Trump backs more COVID-19 relief for struggling workers and businesses. With more urgency, he said he is ready to restart negotiations with Pelosi after weeks of stalemate. Senate Republicans next week plan to bring to the floor a pared-down COVID-19 relief bill costing approximately $500 billion, but House Democrats have said that proposal falls far short of their compromise bid of $2.2 trillion and are expected to block it. Democrats and GOP negotiators are not expected to resume detailed talks in earnest until later this month (The Hill). Mnuchin said Trump and fellow Republicans support provisions to approve funding for schools, COVID-19 testing, vaccine development and deployment, more loans to small businesses, continued enhanced unemployment benefits, child care, nutrition, agriculture, help for the Postal Service, and liability protection for universities, schools and businesses (The Hill). The list is designed to complement some of the Democrats’ priorities, although the specifics are far apart. The Hill: Pelosi said on Tuesday that Democrats and the GOP “continue to have serious differences” on coronavirus relief. The Hill: House Democrats flag nearly $3 billion in problematic small business relief. Early in August, Trump walked away from the legislative discussions with Democrats and said his executive pen could implement some of his favored initiatives to help American workers, including a temporary cut in the payroll tax, which is by law paid jointly by employees and employers. The Hill’s Naomi Jagoda reports that Trump’s payroll tax deferral period begins this month but few businesses are expected to participate in a plan that would boomerang against workers early next year when the relief must be repaid and the government’s largesse in effect reverts to a loan. Under guidance issued by the IRS last week, employers have the option to stop withholding Social Security payroll taxes from paychecks from Sept. 1 through Dec. 31 for employees who earn less than $4,000 on a biweekly basis. The money would then be collected by having businesses withhold catch-up taxes from workers’ paychecks in the first four months of 2021. The administration says the hole in the Social Security Trust Fund will be filled with general revenues, and it has dismissed criticism that unemployed Americans cannot benefit because they have no paycheck. Trump says if he’s reelected, he’ll work with Congress to do away with the payroll tax and make the relief permanent. “This is like other tax deferrals that we gave, which were very helpful to people,” Mnuchin told the House Oversight and Reform Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis. “This is money in people’s pocket that they need now that is very important and very meaningful.” The secretary a few months ago was not a strong booster of Trump’s payroll tax idea because he said there were not enough votes for it in Congress. Many employers are wary of Trump’s executive fallback. “It seems risky for employers, so I think they will shy away from it,” said Amie Kuntz, an Iowa-based CPA at RubinBrown LLP. Payroll tax reductions for federal workers who meet the income threshold outlined by Trump in his Aug. 8 order will kick in by late September (Federal News Network). IRS guidance for employers explaining the payroll tax changes ordered by the president appeared late last week HERE. The Hill: The Trump administration on Tuesday issued a sweeping ban on rental housing evictions that tests the legal authority of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to take action to prevent the spread of communicable diseases. Reuters: More Federal Reserve stimulus for the economy is needed “in coming months” to fight pandemic headwinds, Fed Governor Lael Brainard said on Tuesday. The timetable she outlined puts any Fed decision on further economic stimulus beyond the Nov. 3 elections, while acknowledging that the revised framework released last week by the central bank will begin to shape concrete decisions. … Richmond Federal Reserve President Tom Barkin told The Wall Street Journal in an interview that the U.S. economy will need sustained support in a slowing labor-market recovery (Reuters). 
© Getty Images **** CORONAVIRUS: New York City’s public school system, the largest in the country serving 1.1 million children, will delay the start of the school year by 10 days to try to avert a teachers’ strike and to give teachers, administrators and families more time to prepare for in-person instruction, which will begin Sept. 21 (The New York Times). > Nursing homes: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) grew visibly emotional on Tuesday while announcing that his state will lift its ban on visitors at nursing homes ordered in March to try to curb COVID-19 infections at a time when people over 50 and especially over 80 were at the highest risk of life-threatening complications from the new coronavirus. Lifting restrictions on hugging and touching is part of ongoing debate and critics were quick to express concern over what they believe will be a patchwork approach among facilities statewide. It’s unclear how many of the state’s more than 4,000 nursing homes, assisted living facilities and group homes will choose to open to visitors in any capacity (The Associated Press). > Convalescent plasma does not improve COVID-19 survival: A panel of experts convened by the National Institutes of Health undercut an emergency authorization recently issued by the Food and Drug Administration, saying there is not enough evidence to recommend use of convalescent plasma for hospitalized coronavirus patients. It’s the latest clash about hyped, ineffective and dangerous coronavirus treatments or disputed guidance embraced within some parts of the government (Bloomberg News). > Vaccine triage: A U.S. advisory panel released a draft plan on Tuesday proposing how to ration the first doses of any approved vaccine. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine proposed giving the first doses to high-risk health care workers and first responders. Initial supplies of any early vaccine are expected to be limited to up to 15 million people. Next on the priority list: older residents of nursing homes and other crowded facilities; people of all ages with health conditions that put them at significant danger; teachers and other school staff; workers in essential industries; and people living in homeless shelters, group homes, prisons and other facilities. Healthy children, young adults and everyone else would not get the first vaccinations but would be able to get them once supplies increase, according to the draft plan. The panel of experts described “a moral imperative” to lessen the burden of COVID-19 on Blacks, Hispanics, Native Americans and Alaska Natives, and suggested state and local authorities could target vulnerable neighborhoods using data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (The Associated Press). The academies group is asking for public comments on the plan through Friday. > U.S. vs. World Health Organization: The administration said on Tuesday the United States will not join the world health group’s COVID-19 global initiative to develop, manufacture and distribute an effective coronavirus vaccine. The decision represents a gamble by Trump — one that could threaten to leave the United States behind if the first viable vaccine candidate emerges from another country (The Hill). > The people’s house: The coronavirus prompted the White House to bar tourists during a tumultuous period in which the grounds and residence also became fenced off against anti-Trump protesters. The first family more frequently hosted events that included select groups of visitors during an election year, such as the president’s South Lawn acceptance speech last week. But limited public White House tours are to resume beginning on Sept. 12 (The Associated Press and The Hill). 
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