Brooks: Handling COVID Relief Through Executive Orders Is a ‘Breakdown of Our Democracy’

On Friday’s “PBS NewsHour,” New York Times columnist David Brooks stated that the failure of Congress to strike a deal on the next round of coronavirus relief, and the subject being dealt with through executive orders is “a disaster” and represents “a breakdown of our democracy.” Because Congress is supposed to allocate money. Brooks also stated that “you just can’t do that much with an executive order.”

Brooks said, “You know, every sort of system in this country failed during the COVID, and one thing didn’t fail, and that was Congress. Congress actually got some money out the door. And for — one part of our system worked, and now it’s not working. And it’s going to apparently go to the White House with executive orders, which is a disaster on two levels. On the first level, it’s a breakdown of our democracy. We have a strong congressional system, where the Congress is supposed to spend the money. And that isn’t working, apparently. Second, you just can’t do that much with an executive order. We’ve got 10% unemployment. We’ve got whole industries shut down. There’s just not a lot that Donald Trump can do without Congress.”

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