President Trump’s chief of staff Mark Meadows said the White House was considering executive action to help airlines should coronavirus bill negotiators in Congress fail to strike a deal before current relief funding expires.
American Airlines told employees on Tuesday that it would furlough or lay off 19,000 workers in October unless the federal government provides further relief for troubled airlines. The company issued 3,000 furlough notices in July, days after warning that 25,000 employees could be furloughed when Payroll Support Program funding ends on Sept. 30.
Delta has also announced plans to furlough 2,000 pilots, also in October.
Airlines were awarded more than $50 billion in loans and grants from the $2 trillion CARES Act earlier this year. Of the total, the $25 billion grant portion stipulated that they retain employees through September.
The coronavirus has slowed travel, hurting revenue.
“I think everybody, every time they hear that we’re going to do executive actions, they don’t believe me,” Meadows said in a live interview with Politico on Wednesday. “We’ve got four executive actions that actually the president took. We’re going to take a few others because if Congress is not going to work, this president is going to get to work and solve some problems. So, hopefully, we can help out the airlines and keep some of those employees from being furloughed.”
He added: “If you’ve got airline workers in your district, whether you’re a Democrat or Republican, you need to call the speaker or the leader and let them know that it’s a priority. It’s all about keeping people in jobs during this V-shaped recovery.”
As talks for a new relief bill stalled on Capitol Hill this month, the president signed several executive measures that he said would provide relief.
Meadows said that his office reached out to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s chief of staff on Tuesday to discuss the stalled negotiations. “We haven’t heard anything from her,” he said. “I’m not optimistic. I think the speaker is going to hold out until the end of September and try to get what she wants.”
“We know how these negotiations go,” Meadows added. “Everybody looks to the leverage, the next cliff, the next deadline, to figure out how they can use that to their political advantage.”
