Stimulus Debate: White House Adviser Larry Kudlow Says Unemployment Payment Could Be More Than $400 in Confusing Interview

By Andrew Roberts

The White House sent its advisers out in full force on Sunday for the political talk show circuit. While Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer denounced the executive actions taken by the president Saturday, White House adviser Larry Kudlow joined CNN and ABC News for the administration's side of the debate.

The result was possibly more damaging to the president's proclamations than if they said nothing at all. While host Dana Bash asked a series of questions related to the details within the executive orders, Kudlow came off like someone who has just found out about the orders for the first time.

When asked about the payroll tax "holiday" or cut, Kudlow provided very confusing answers about how long the reduction would be in effect and how it would affect the future revenue for Social Security and Medicare. "When he referred to 'permanent,' I think what he was saying is that the deferral of the payroll tax to the end of the year will be made permanent," Kudlow tells Bash. "It will be forgiven. The tax is not going to go away."

Bash then tells him that Trump did say that he would do away with the tax in the next year if he saw fit, which Kudlow seems to disagree with during the interview. "I believe he was referring to doing away with the payback of the deferral," Kudlow said. "[We] will take any steps possible to forgive this deferral. That's what he was actually saying. We will protect Social Security. We will protect Medicare."

The confusion continued while discussing the proposed unemployment extension order and the uncertainty over the $400 Trump mentioned during the briefing and where the states fall in the plan. Not only is the amount in question, but it has also gotten larger.

"At a minimum, we will put in 300 bucks and the states will continue with their 400 bucks. But I think all they have to do is put up an extra dollar and we'll be able to throw in the extra $100," Kudlow said. "But on average, Dana, it'll run to about $800." Bash then tells Kudlow that the order says the total will be $400, with 75 percent from the federal government and 25 percent from the states. This did not clear up the situation.

"Well, we will stand ready to re-purpose if states put in a little bit more is all it amounts to," he added. "Right now, that number's going to run around $700. I think they'll get to $800. Some states can get above $800 with our federal help."

Kudlow also noted that the plan is to rely on unspent money authorized by the CARES Act, which some of the states have not used. He also said the administration would be "re-purposing funds from other areas" to cover the federal portion of the unemployment benefit. This continued on ABC with George Stephanopoulos, with Kudlow calling the executive actions "temporary" and blaming Democrats from walking away from "compromise."

The ABC host did note that Trump's actions don't actually support the moratorium on evictions, only opening a review. According to Kudlow, this review is where the eviction will be stopped, but the logistics of such an undertaking seems daunting.

Kudlow does expect to go to court over the executive orders, but stood by the president and the executive actions. "We're going to go ahead with our actions anyway. Our counsel's office, the Treasury Department believes it has the authority to temporarily suspend tax collections."

Others didn't feel as confident and let their feelings out online. Scroll down to see some of the reactions to Kudlow's confusing appearances.

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