(WASHINGTON, D.C.) - Congressman Jamie Raskin (MD-08) released the following statement in response to President Trump's unconstitutional Executive Orders to defer the payroll tax and slash unemployment aid: 

"Trump’s Executive Orders—bypassing Congress to defer the payroll tax and slice in half the unemployment insurance benefits advanced in the Heroes Act —are plainly and farcically unconstitutional. He has no power to enact either policy without Congress. 

"Under Article I, the powers to spend and tax belong to Congress. The President has no power to spend money outside of Congressionally authorized and appropriated purposes. His unemployment insurance 'bill' (an excellent Freudian slip and Madisonian confession!) violates the criminal Anti-Deficiency Act. His ridiculous 'bill' to defer the payroll tax usurps Congressional power over taxation and threatens to sap the Social Security and Medicare systems.

"These lawless Executive Orders represent a dangerous new low for the most lawless administration of our lifetime. The collapse of all powers into a single person is the very definition of tyranny, James Madison said. This constitutional offense is obviously intolerable and both houses of Congress and both political parties must act to restore constitutional order." 

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