Sen. Johnson: Trump and his legal team crafted executive actions ‘pretty narrowly’
Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson weighs in on Trump’s executive actions for the coronavirus relief on ‘Your World with Neil Cavuto.’
President Trump’s coronavirus-related executive actions are likely constitutional, despite expressions of discontent by members of both parties, Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Ron Johnson, R-Wis., told "Your World" Monday.
"First of all, I think the way the president and his legal team have crafted this, [it's] pretty narrow in scope and so my guess [is], they probably have the authority under disaster relief [legislation]," Johnson told host Neil Cavuto.
"My guess ... is [that] his legal team has done a pretty good job of looking at exactly what legal authority he has. He’s using it to the extent that he can. But that is part of the problem," Johnson went on. " He’s constrained in terms of what he can do."
On Saturday, Trump signed four executive actions aimed at providing financial relief for Americans amid the coronavirus pandemic, as negotiations over a so-called "Phase 4" stimulus package reached a stalemate on Capitol Hill.
WHAT'S IN PRESIDENT TRUMP'S FOUR CORONAVIRUS RELIEF EXECUTIVE ORDERS?
Trump's executive actions called for $400 per week in federal supplemental unemployment aid — a replacement of the program passed under the CARES Act earlier this year that gave unemployed people $600 a week through the end of July.
The action -- which Johnson said is "pretty well dictated by FEMA disaster relief" would require states to pay for 25% of the $400 weekly benefit, while the federal government would pick up 75%.
Congressional Democrats initially sought a $3.4 trillion package, but later said they lowered their asking price in talks to $2 trillion. Republicans had proposed a narrower $1 trillion plan.
Johnson said Democrats "were not interested in the deal" and slammed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for passing the $3 trillion HEROES Act in May, which he said, "signaled to me that they were just gonna play politics."
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Unlike Democrats, who proposed "a massive amount of spending," Republican lawmakers are "actually concerned about the debt," Johnson argued.
"[We are] $26.5 trillion in debt, we don’t have an unlimited checking account, so I think Republicans are trying to be responsible," he explained. "I certainly am."
Fox Business' Megan Henney contributed to this report.
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