WASHINGTON, D.C., USA — Prominent Maine political figures have voiced their condemnation of President Donald Trump’s unemployment and deferred payroll tax Executive Orders that were signed on Saturday. The orders bypassed the nation’s lawmakers to defer payroll taxes and replace an expired unemployment benefit with a lower amount after negotiations with Congress on a new coronavirus rescue package collapsed.
In addition to lowering the supplemental unemployment benefits from $600 to $400, the new order now asks the states to cover 25% of those benefits. The previous unemployment benefit, which expired on Aug. 1, was fully funded by the federal government.
In addition to the extension of some unemployment benefits, Trump's orders call for a deferral of payroll tax and federal student loan payments and efforts to halt evictions. In essence, the deferral is an interest-free loan that would have to be repaid.
READ DETAILS OF THE ORDERS HERE: Trump signs executive orders extending unemployment benefits, defer payroll tax
Trump's Democratic opponent in the presidential race, Joe Biden, called the orders “a series of half-baked measures" and accused him of putting at risk Social Security, which is funded by the payroll tax.
Maine’s Senators have starkly different responses to the President’s actions. Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) said Trump’s maneuver moves America toward an “elected monarchy.”
“If the President’s unconstitutional executive orders are allowed to proceed, they would accelerate the erosion of Congress’s fundamental powers and lead us further down the path to the undermining of the American experiment in self-governance,” King said. “This maneuver effectively ignores our system of checks and balances – and Congress retaining the power of the purse –and instead is moving us toward an elected monarchy. I wonder if those who cheer this action now will feel the same when a Democratic president wields these kinds of powers based upon this precedent.”
Collins, meanwhile, had sharp words for Senate Democrats rather than Trump.
“I hope the President’s actions will prompt Democratic leaders to negotiate seriously to reach a much-needed agreement to help struggling families, seniors, schools, businesses, municipalities & the USPS with this persistent pandemic,” Collins said. “Three times, Senate Democratic leaders blocked extending extra unemployment benefits to prevent their expiration during the negotiations.”
While Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME-02) also said the President’s actions “seriously overreach the executive’s authority and are as bad or worse than the previous administration’s,” Golden said the “theatrics and political games” from Mitch McConnell and Nancy Pelosi “also represent a failure of leadership and show the American people that the political establishment’s leaders in Washington don’t understand the depth of the crisis millions of families face right now.”
“The nation should not be hanging in the balance waiting for party leaders to get out of their partisan corners,” Golden said.
Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-ME-01) called the orders a “PR stunt, not real relief,” and urged Senate leaders to come back to negotiate with the House on the basis of a comprehensive Heroes Act.
“Mainers need real help and the only way to provide it is to pass a bill,” Pingree said.
Many states already faced budget shortfalls due to the coronavirus pandemic and would have difficulty assuming the new obligation. Maine Gov. Janet Mills says the order raises more questions than they answer.
“With the myriad legal and logistical questions these Orders and Memoranda raise, the President’s actions over the weekend appear to subordinate real relief for unemployed Americans to partisan gamesmanship, making Maine families a pawn in a cruel political game,” Mills said in a statement. “On every White House call, the Governors universally call upon the Administration to support serious stimulus funds for small businesses and local and state governments whose budgets have been hard hit by the pandemic and for flexibility with existing relief funds. Asking states now to take on additional expenses is unresponsive to these needs and threatens important programs and services.”
Mills says her administration will be seeking information from the U.S. Department of Labor about the order, but fundamentally, “Maine people need real solutions, not questionable, problematic actions. Congress must step up, put aside the partisanship, and reach consensus on a comprehensive coronavirus relief package that meets the extensive challenges facing the American people.”
“The Maine Department of Labor is seeking further information from the U.S. Department of Labor and the Federal Emergency Management Agency about the President’s Executive Orders,” Laura Fortman, Commissioner of the Maine Department of Labor, said. “Many of the details of the Order relating to unemployment are vague and include no information about how the program should be implemented or would work, raising serious concerns about the ability to deliver benefits to out-of-work Mainers in a timely manner.”