Leading Democrats are certainly not pouncing on the idea that they will have a legal case against the four executive orders issued by the Trump administration over the weekend.
When asked by ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, Senate minority leader Chuch Schumer (D-New York) said he’ll “leave that up to the attorneys.”
Pressed by @GStephanopoulos on the legality of President Trump’s COVID-19 executive orders, Sen. Chuck Schumer declines to say if they’re illegal: “I’ll leave that up to the attorneys. It doesn’t do the job.” https://t.co/9yHUUO77Ix pic.twitter.com/ukM9NTGPy7
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) August 9, 2020
Words like “meager, unworkable, weak and narrow” were included in a joint statement and tweets from Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. But neither leader used any words like “illegal” or “unconstitutional.”
Instead of putting in the work to solve Americans’ problems, Pres. Trump chose to stay on his golf course to announce unworkable, weak & narrow policy announcements to slash the unemployment benefits that millions desperately need and endanger seniors’ Social Security & Medicare pic.twitter.com/QNwu3HEcbi
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) August 9, 2020
They won’t say whether they’ll actually challenge the orders, but they’re plenty willing to use scare rhetoric.
Today’s meager announcements show President Trump still does not comprehend the seriousness or the urgency of the health and economic crises facing working families. These policies provide little real help for families.
— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) August 8, 2020
In the ABC News interview referenced above, Schumer called the payroll tax cut “way off base.” But here was his take on that in 2011.
House GOP trying to play catch-up on jobs but their stalling of payroll tax cut shows they are still putting politics before recovery
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) August 29, 2011
Whether Democrats will try to take legal action or not remains to be seen. But if you listen to their leadership, you don’t get the sense that they believe they have a case.
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