The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board criticized President Trump for signing executive orders Saturday to extend unemployment benefits and other coronavirus relief measures, likening his actions to those taken by former President Obama.
In an editorial published late Sunday, the board wrote Trump was “right to walk away rather than succumb” to Democrats’ “multi-trillion-dollar blackmail,” but editors voiced concern about Trump’s executive orders.
“The bad news is that he followed the Barack Obama method with executive orders, one of which stretched the law in a way that a future progressive President will surely cite as precedent,” the Journal’s board wrote.
The board said Trump‘s “worst order” was the one that extended temporary unemployment benefits.
That order would extend the enhanced unemployment benefits that expired about two weeks ago, but the payments will be lowered from $600 to $400 per week and states are required to cover 25 percent of the costs.
“Covid-19 is a national emergency, and unemployment is the result of the virus and government shutdowns. But Congress passed jobless aid as part of the Cares Act that was separate from the Disaster Relief fund. Mr. Trump is commandeering the power of the purse that the Constitution reserves for Congress,” the editorial board wrote.
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Wall Street Journal editorial board rips Trump for following the "Obama method" with executive orders https://t.co/SYH2i75kzu pic.twitter.com/EfOfayrECr
— The Hill (@thehill) August 10, 2020
Ouch. pic.twitter.com/IoYspdHeG1
— The Lincoln Project 🏴☠️ (@ProjectLincoln) August 10, 2020
If there was even a pretense of Republicans believing what they claimed for decades, they’d realize that by supporting Trump raising or lowering taxes by EO, they have laid the groundwork for a Dem to impose a wealth tax and raise cap gains. Enjoy the future, guys. You built it.
— stuart stevens (@stuartpstevens) August 9, 2020
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