the kindest thing I could say is he doesn’t know what he’s talking about or something’s wrong there,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said.

After negotiations with lawmakers on the next package of pandemic economic assistance hit a wall, Trump used what he said were the inherent powers of the presidency to forge ahead on tax and spending policy that Congress says it is granted by the Constitution.

But the orders appeared to carry less weight than Trump promoted and cut federal relief spending by shifting more onto the shoulders of struggling states.

Trump accused Democrats of trying to spend more than was needed and adding money for priorities unrelated to the pandemic.

Trump also said states would cover 25 percent of this money even as many are dealing with major budget shortfalls.

The federal contribution would be redirected from disaster relief money at the Federal Emergency Management Agency — dollars not likely to last more than two months.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the $100 share from states would come from from an earlier pool of federal money and that Trump may waive the requirement about how it can be used.

Pelosi, D-Calif., criticized Trump for not doing anything to help schools trying to reopen and she said the orders were “unconstitutional slop.”.

Trump also acted to defer payment of the payroll tax, a long-pushed goal that had little support from either party on Capitol Hill, and federal student loans.

“If the Democrats want to challenge us in court and hold up unemployment benefits to those hardworking Americans who are out of a job because of COVID, they’re going to have a lot of explaining to do,” Mnuchin said.