Pelosi says Trump's new executive orders on coronavirus relief are 'unconstitutional slop'

• House Speaker Nancy Pelosi criticized President Donald Trump's series of executive orders in various media appearances on Sunday.
• In an interview with CNN, Pelosi stated that "something's wrong" with the executive orders, pointing out how Trump asks states to cover 25% of the costs when they are already struggling with budget limitations.
• On Fox News, Pelosi called the president's orders for payroll tax cuts — which he said he would make permanent if re-elected for a second term — "unconstitutional slop" that undermined funding for social security and Medicare.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi criticized President Donald Trump's series of coronavirus relief executive orders Sunday, pointing out the legal and financial challenges they pose.

On Saturday, Trump signed four executive orders on student loan payments, evictions and foreclosures, payroll tax holiday, and unemployment. On Sunday, Pelosi pointed out that the orders push states to cover relief expenses even as they're already experiencing a shortage of funding.

"He's saying states have the money — no they don't," Pelosi said on CNN's "State of the Union."

Trump's executive order asks states to cover a quarter of the funding for a $400 weekly boost to federal unemployment benefits. According to a report published by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in July, data projects a total of $555 billion budget shortfalls over state fiscal years for the next two years in wake of economic struggles posed by the coronavirus pandemic.

"Something's wrong. Either the President doesn't know what he's talking about, clearly, his aides don't know what he is talking about," Pelosi said on CNN. "Or something's very wrong here about meeting the needs of the American people at this time."

—State of the Union (@CNNSotu) August 9, 2020

In an interview on Fox News, Pelosi told Chris Wallace that the president's new executive orders have various legal barriers, calling them an "unconstitutional slop." Trump's executive order to slash payroll taxes — which he says he would make permanent if he is re-elected for a second term — finances Social Security and Medicare, a health insurance program that supports senior citizens and young Americans with disabilities.

On Saturday, Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer released a statement saying that the policy will "slash the unemployment benefits that millions desperately need and endanger seniors' Social Security and Medicare." The statement also mentioned how the announcements do not contend with pressing issues of the coronavirus pandemic such as increased testing, reopening schools, or layoffs of government staff in the frontlines.

Lawmakers and policy experts have expressed concerns about the legal and financial barriers that make Trump's new executive orders difficult to implement. National Employment Law project unemployment expert Michele Evermore told Business Insider's Joseph Zeballos-Roig that trump's weekly boost to unemployment is "outside the UI system entirely."