President Trump signed one executive order and three memos yesterday in an attempt to circumvent the stalemate his administration has met in negotiations with Democratic leaders, but the impact and power of those actions is limited.

As the Washington Post notes, the only executive order signed by Trump, relating to a moratorium on evictions, instructs the Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to “consider” whether an eviction moratorium is needed during the pandemic.

The order does not provide any rent relief, nor does it help the hundreds of thousands of independent landlords–those with 20 or fewer rental properties–who control roughly half of the rental housing in the United States.  While evictions may be halted, independent landlords would still be at risk at falling into foreclosure because their mortgages are still due.

Trump’s memo regarding unemployment benefits would require already cash-strapped states to pony up 25% of the cost of the increased benefits Trump ordered, forcing an unfunded mandate into the lap of governors.

Also, as BusinessInsider points out, Trump’s memo would require the creation of a system that would calculate recipients’ lost wages, given that does not exist and would take months to create.  It would also exclude small business owners, people who rely on tips (not payroll) and “gig” workers who do not have regular paychecks.

The memo calling for deferment of federal payroll taxes is also a boondoggle.  First of all, it’s not a temporary elimination of the tax, but instead a deferment of payment from employers, which would require employers and employees to catch up on payments after the deferment period expires.

Many employers may not adhere to this direction from Trump given the impediment on cash flow that would be caused when the debt is due.  That means those employees would see no benefit from Trump’s order.

His final memo, calling for the cancelation of interest payments for student loans until the end of the year, would still require the principle of the loans to be paid each month–or potentially deferred until the end of the year, when a lump sum would be due.

Additionally, it would require full payment again on January 1, 2021.

The legality of all these actions is questioned from both Democrats and republicans, with GOP Senator Ben Sasse calling Trump’s plans “unconstitutional slop.”