Hillary Clinton slams Trump’s COVID stimulus executive order as ‘unconstitutional’ and ‘a diversion’ as deadline passes
HILLARY Clinton has slammed President Trump’s decision to bypass Congress with executive orders, calling it a “stunt” and a “diversion”.
Trump last week unemployment benefit with a $400 weekly payment, after Congress failed to agree on a new package.
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“It’s a stunt,” , who ran against Trump in the 2016 presidential election, said Sunday on MSNBC’s AM Joy.
“There’s no doubt about it, it’s most likely, as even Republican senators have said, unconstitutional, bypassing the Congress, trying to spend money that he has no authority to direct.”
Clinton said Trump’s executive orders are a distraction from the failures of Republicans and Democrats to reach a deal before the August recess, and give Americans some relief from the coronavirus economic downturn.
“It’s also meant to be a big diversion from the hard work that Congress should be engaged in to provide the kind of relief that tens of millions of Americans need,” she said.
Trump’s orders were quickly criticized as unconstitutional from lawmakers, including from Senator Ben Sasse, of .
“The pen-and-phone theory of executive lawmaking is unconstitutional slop,” Sasse said.
“ did not have the power to unilaterally rewrite immigration law with DACA, and President Trump does not have the power to unilaterally rewrite the payroll tax law.“
On Sunday, echoed Sasse’s statement, saying: “No, in fact, what the president did is — I agreed what the Republican senator said — is unconstitutional slop.”
The orders include a payroll tax holiday, eviction protections, extending the unemployment benefit and extending student loan deferments, and forgiving interest until the end of 2020.
It came after the White House rejected the Democrats’ $2trillion coronavirus relief package.
Trump called the extra $400 per week unemployment benefit “generous,” even though it’s coming down from $600 passed earlier this year, but added “we want to take care of our people.”
He said states will handle 25 percent of the cost for the unemployment benefit, while the federal government will pay for 75 percent.
During his Saturday announcement, Trump claimed that Democrats wanted to include provisions in the package that had “nothing to do with” the coronavirus, including requiring states to allow mail-in voting for the November election and providing stimulus checks to undocumented immigrants.