The orders Trump signed would provide an extra $400 in unemployment benefits, suspend some student loan payments and protect renters from eviction. Wochit

WASHINGTON Seeking to tamp down Republican criticism of his new executive orders on the economy, President Donald Trump attacked GOP senator Ben Sasse on Monday as "Republican In Name Only" the same senator who attacked his actions as "unconstitutional slop."

"RINO Ben Sasse, who needed my support and endorsement in order to get the Republican nomination for Senate from the GREAT State of Nebraska, has, now that hes got it (Thank you President T), gone rogue, again," Trump said in a tweet with complex sentence structure.

Sasse used a vivid metaphor todenounce Trump's new executive orders, comparing them to the ones President Barack Obama used to blockdeportation ofchildren of parents who had entered the country illegally.

The pen-and-phone theory of executive lawmaking is unconstitutional slop," Sasse said shortly after Trump signed the orders on Saturday.

Sasse, a member of both the Senate Judiciary and Finance committees, said Obama "did not have the power to unilaterally rewrite immigration law" and Trump "does not have the power to unilaterally rewrite the payroll tax law."

President Donald Trump(Photo: MANDEL NGAN, AFP via Getty Images)

Trump and his aides said they still hope they can reach agreement with Congress on a new stimulus bill to address the economic problems caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sasse and other lawmakers, mostly Democrats, questioned the legality and wisdom of the Trump executive orders that are designed to extend unemployment insurance, prevent evictions, suspend student loan payments, and encourage employers to defer certain payroll taxes through the end of the year.

More: Trump signs executive orders enacting $400 unemployment benefit, payroll tax cut after coronavirus stimulus talks stall

More: 'The Lord and the Founding Fatherscreated executive orders,' says Peter Navarro in defending Trump move

More: 'We have to reach an agreement': Dems, White House open to deal on COVID-19 relief despite Trump's orders

One question is whether there is enough money available to cover Trump's plans, analysts said, and another is whether states and private employers are in a position to help fulfill the plan as requested.

Trump's orders would reduce unemployment benefits from $600 to $400 a week, but it also calls on cash-strapped states to finance 25% of the these costs.

Also, employers are under no obligation to stop withholdingthe payroll tax as called for in the executive orders and legislators in both parties pointed out that those taxes finance Social Security and Medicare, programs they said would be weakened under Trump's scheme.

The orders also do not extend a moratorium on evictions, they only ask government agencies to look for ways to avoid to dislodging renters who have fallen behind on their payments.

There are also questions as to whether any president has legal authority to do any of this, said Sasse and others.

"Under the Constitution, that power belongs to the American people acting through their members of Congress," Sasse said.

Trump has brushed aside these criticism.

"This foolishness plays right into the hands of the Radical Left Dems!" Trump tweeted.

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'Unconstitutional slop:' Donald Trump spars with Ben Sasse, the GOP senator who attacked his executive order - USA TODAY