Trump's $400 Unemployment Aid 'Not Legal,' Says Jon Gruber

President Donald Trump hold up one of the four executive orders that he signed that addresses the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic at his Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J., Saturday, Aug. 8, 2020.

Hannah Uebele is a producer for Under the Radar with Callie Crossley and previously worked as associate producer for Boston Public Radio. She graduated from Tufts University with a B.S. in English and Environmental Studies. She's a proud Delawarean but has found herself saying "wicked" more and more often, so the Bostonian metamorphosis is well underway.Contact: hannah_uebele@wgbh.org

August 12, 2020

Updated August 07, 2023

Economist Jonathan Gruber spoke to Boston Public Radio on Wednesday about what he said are flaws in President Donald Trump's latest executive orders for COVID economic relief — including giving people $400 a week in unemployment benefits. "What's wrong is that [the proposals made on August 8th] are mostly just smoke and no fire — it's not going to happen, it's not legal, the president doesn't have the power of the purse, so it's really just a pipe dream."

Jonathan Gruber is the Ford professor of economics at MIT. He worked on Massachusetts health care reform and the Affordable Care Act. His latest book is "Jump-Starting America: How Breakthrough Science Can Revive Economic Growth and the American Dream."