Millions of Americans were unemployed.
Businesses were struggling to survive.
Federal unemployment supplements had expired.
Airlines were beginning massive furloughs.
And Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell was warning that failing to provide additional government assistance could cause “unnecessary hardship” for American families and businesses.
Then President Donald Trump abruptly ordered negotiations over a new COVID-19 economic relief package to stop.
Less than a day later, he began reversing course.
On October 7, 2020, the White House scrambled to pursue smaller relief measures after Trump's decision the previous afternoon had thrown months of negotiations into chaos.
Instead of the comprehensive economic package that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had been negotiating, Trump now called for separate measures providing $1,200 stimulus checks, assistance for struggling airlines and additional money for small businesses.
For Americans waiting for help, Washington had once again become unpredictable at precisely the moment they needed stability.
Trump Personally Stops the Negotiations
On October 6, Trump announced that he had instructed his administration to stop negotiating with Democrats until after the November election.
“I have instructed my representatives to stop negotiating until after the election,” Trump announced.
The decision was Trump's.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin had been negotiating with Pelosi over another major relief package.
The two sides remained far apart on several issues, including the overall size of the legislation, assistance for state and local governments, unemployment benefits and COVID testing.
Democrats had sought a package of roughly $2.2 trillion.
The White House had offered approximately $1.6 trillion.
There was no guarantee the negotiations would succeed. Many Senate Republicans were also resistant to another enormous spending package.
But negotiations were happening.
Trump ordered them stopped.
He said Congress should instead concentrate on confirming his Supreme Court nominee, Amy Coney Barrett, and that negotiations over a major stimulus package could resume after the election.
That meant Americans suffering financially from the pandemic could potentially have to wait weeks longer for Washington to act.
Americans Were Already Hurting
The timing was particularly consequential.
The enormous CARES Act passed earlier in the pandemic had provided emergency assistance to workers, businesses and industries.
But by October, important portions of that assistance had expired.
The additional $600-per-week federal unemployment benefit had ended at the end of July.
The Paycheck Protection Program had stopped accepting new applications in August.
Federal assistance that had prevented airlines from furloughing workers expired at the end of September.
American Airlines and United Airlines subsequently announced furloughs affecting more than 30,000 employees.
Restaurants, hotels, entertainment venues and other businesses dependent on people gathering together were struggling.
Millions of workers remained unemployed.
Personal income had fallen as earlier federal assistance disappeared.
The crisis was nowhere near over.
The Federal Reserve Warns Washington
Hours before Trump stopped the negotiations, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell had delivered an unusually direct warning.
The economic recovery remained fragile, Powell said, and the federal government risked doing too little rather than too much.
“Too little support would lead to a weak recovery, creating unnecessary hardship for households and businesses,” Powell warned.
His message was straightforward.
Americans still needed help.
Businesses still needed help.
The economy still needed help.
Hours later, Trump announced that negotiations for additional broad relief were over until after the election.
Financial markets reacted immediately.
Stocks fell sharply following Trump's announcement.
Then Trump Changed Direction
The shutdown of negotiations didn't even last through the night before Trump's position began changing.
Only hours after telling his administration to stop negotiating, Trump began demanding that Congress pass individual pieces of the very economic assistance that had been part of the larger negotiations.
He called for $25 billion in additional airline payroll assistance.
He called for $135 billion for the Paycheck Protection Program to assist small businesses.
Then he called for another round of $1,200 stimulus checks.
“If I am sent a Stand Alone Bill for Stimulus Checks ($1,200), they will go out to our great people IMMEDIATELY,” Trump wrote.
“I am ready to sign right now.”
By October 7, Mnuchin was once again talking with Pelosi — this time about the possibility of legislation specifically aimed at rescuing the airline industry.
In less than 24 hours, the administration had gone from negotiating a comprehensive economic relief package, to ending negotiations altogether, to advocating several smaller relief bills.
What About Everyone Else?
The narrower approach created an obvious problem.
Millions of Americans needed assistance that wasn't included in Trump's new demands.
The president's proposed stand-alone measures could help airline workers, small businesses and people receiving another stimulus check.
But what about enhanced unemployment benefits?
What about rental assistance?
What about state and local governments facing enormous pandemic-related expenses and collapsing tax revenue?
What about money for testing and tracing?
What about struggling industries that weren't airlines?
Those issues had been part of the broader negotiations Trump had just ordered stopped.
A piecemeal approach meant some Americans could potentially receive help while others continued waiting.
Washington Shares Responsibility — But Trump Made This Decision
The failure to reach another comprehensive COVID relief agreement cannot accurately be attributed to Trump alone.
Democrats and Republicans had profound disagreements over how much money should be spent and where it should go.
Pelosi and the White House had repeatedly accused each other of refusing to compromise.
Many Senate Republicans opposed spending anywhere near the amount being discussed by either Pelosi or Trump's own Treasury secretary.
Washington had been deadlocked for months.
But the October 6 decision was different.
Trump wasn't simply rejecting a Democratic proposal.
He explicitly ordered his own negotiators to stop negotiating.
And he did so while millions of Americans were still dealing with the financial consequences of a pandemic that had destroyed jobs, closed businesses and disrupted entire industries.
Then, within hours, he began demanding that Congress pass portions of the assistance he had just halted negotiations over.
A President Recovering From COVID
The political turmoil was made even more extraordinary by Trump's own circumstances.
Trump had returned to the White House from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center only one day before he terminated the relief negotiations.
He was still being treated for COVID-19.
On October 7, the same day his administration began trying to revive pieces of the economic relief effort, Trump released a video describing his own infection as a “blessing from God.”
The president had access to around-the-clock medical care and experimental treatments.
Millions of Americans dealing with the economic consequences of that same pandemic were waiting for Washington to decide whether they would receive additional financial assistance.
Americans Caught in Washington's Dysfunction
The October 7 reversal demonstrated how unstable the federal response to the economic crisis had become.
This wasn't an abstract argument over numbers in Washington.
Behind every unemployment statistic was a household.
Behind every business closure was an owner and employees.
Behind the airline furloughs were tens of thousands of workers suddenly wondering how they would pay their bills.
Americans didn't control whether Pelosi and Mnuchin reached an agreement.
They didn't control whether Senate Republicans would approve another large spending package.
And they didn't control whether the president would suddenly terminate negotiations and then partially restart them hours later.
They simply lived with the consequences.
On October 7, 2020, those consequences were becoming increasingly clear.
Americans were still suffering financially from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Washington still had not agreed on how to help them.
And one day after President Trump personally ordered negotiations stopped until after the election, his administration was already trying to put pieces of those negotiations back together.