Legal Debate Over Trump's Economic Stimulus Executive Orders Heats Up

Democrats claim the President's executive orders are ineffective and illegal, but the White House warns House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and company risk angering the voters if they stand in the way.
 
The big sticking point: a reduction in the federal boost to unemployment benefits to $300 each week with an additional $100 coming from the states. It's one-third less than the $600 a week boost the unemployed had been receiving.

Democrats say Trump's executive orders don't do enough to relieve the economic pain being felt by millions.

"It doesn't do anything, and as the American people look at these executive orders they will see they don't come close to doing the job," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) told ABC News.

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House Speaker Pelosi (D-CA) questioned whether states can afford to contribute to each worker's check.

"What the president put forth was a complicated formula which said that the states should put up 25 percent of the money. States don't have the money to do that," argued Pelosi on Sunday. "They have expenses from the coronavirus. They've lost revenue from shelter in place."

The President's orders also call for measures to stop evictions, extend relief for student loan borrowers, and deferring the payroll tax on wages for workers making less than $100,000 a year.

He even floated the idea of doing away with them permanently.

"If I'm victorious on November 3rd, I plan to forgive these taxes and make permanent cuts to the payroll tax," Trump said.

Democrats questioning the legality of the president's executive orders and even one Republican lawmaker, Sen. Ben Sasse of  Nebraska calling Trump's unilateral moves "unconstitutional slop." 

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin pushed back on the objections.

"If the Democrats want to challenge us in court and hold up unemployment benefits to those hard-working Americans that are out of a job because of COVID, they are going to have a lot of explaining to do," Mnuchin told Fox News.

The President issued the orders after the two sides failed to reconcile the Democrats' $3.5 trillion relief plan with the GOP's $1 trillion offering.

The four executive orders call for the federal government to spend up to $44 billion to help financially strapped Americans. 

But given the number of people unemployed so far, those funds will likely only last a few weeks.

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