Lead coronavirus relief bill negotiators weigh in on Trump's executive orders

Nancy Pelosi.
(Image credit: Screenshot/Twitter/Fox News)

President Trump just signed a series of coronavirus pandemic-related executive orders in an attempt to bypass a congressional stalemate over an economic relief bill. Naturally, the people who were at the negotiating table the last few weeks had some thoughts.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Sunday echoed critics who have called the president's orders unconstitutional and weak. Pelosi told Fox News' Chris Wallace the orders are "illusions," with Schumer adding during an appearance on ABC's This Week that they don't "do the job."

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Meanwhile, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who sat on the other side of the table, defended the actions, arguing that Pelosi and Schumer had a chance to accept the White House's offer of continuing to pay $600/week enhanced unemployment benefits — which would be reduced to $400/week under Trump's order — during negotiations, but "turned that down." Mnuchin said Democratic lawmakers will have "a lot of explaining to do" if they challenge the executive actions in court, which seems likely at this point. Read more at The Hill.

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Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.