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That more ambitious proposal would have to go through Congress, while the steps outlined in Friday’s orders do not require legislation and can be implemented faster.
In remarks before signing, the president listed many of the financial problems Americans face, including that 1 in 7 households, more than 1 in 5 Black and Latino families, say they don’t have enough food to eat, 14 million Americans have fallen behind in paying their rent and 900,000 people went out of business for the first time last week.
“This cannot be who we are as a country,” he said. “These are not our nation’s values. We cannot, we will not allow people to go hungry. We cannot allow people to be evicted for anything they did themselves. We cannot see people lose their jobs. We have to Act”.
National Economic Council Director Brian Deese argued at a White House briefing earlier that day that the right political move is to continue expanding aid now, rather than waiting to see if the $ 900,000 aid package million that Congress approved last month is enough. Deese pointed to an analysis by Moody’s Analytics that found that Biden’s relief plan would create 7.5 million jobs this year and return the country to full employment a year earlier than projected.
“The most important thing financially right now is taking decisive action,” Deese said during the briefing. He added that he is ready to speak with senators on Sunday about Biden’s broader $ 1.9 billion relief proposal.
Biden’s latest executive order aims to increase food aid to low-income families and children and get the stimulus checks already approved for Americans who do not routinely file taxes and cannot be easily accessed by the Treasury.
Still, while Biden’s efforts will provide “a critical lifeline” to millions of Americans, Congress has yet to act to achieve comprehensive relief, Deese said.
Additional orders are expected to be signed in the coming days, according to a calendar document sent to administration allies and viewed by CNN. His agenda next week includes steps to tighten requirements for the government to purchase goods and services from American companies, a push to eliminate private prisons, reestablish the President’s Council of Science and Technology Advisers, rescind the so-called policy of the Mexico City blocking the federal blockade. funding for nongovernmental organizations providing abortion services, and changes in border processing and refugee policies, as well as the establishment of a family reunification task force.
Helping families in need
Additionally, the order directs the department to consider allowing states to increase food stamp benefits for approximately 12 million Americans who did not benefit from a previous increase in emergency appropriations included in congressional aid packages. The order would increase benefits for a family of four by 15-20% per month.
Food insecurity has exploded during the pandemic amid massive job losses. The aid bill that lawmakers passed in December increases the maximum benefit of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, as food stamps are formally known, by 15% through June. Biden’s relief measure would extend it through September.
Consumer advocates applauded Biden’s measures.
“The most effective way to ensure that families with children have enough to eat is by providing them with the resources to buy the food they need,” said Lisa Davis, senior vice president of Share Our Strength, which seeks to end hunger and poverty. “And since these profits are quickly spent in supermarkets and local markets, they also stimulate local economies.”
And the president is asking the agency to consider revising its Thrifty Food Plan, which is the basis for determining food stamp benefits, to better reflect the current cost of a healthy staple diet. The estimate was established in the 1970s, and advocates say it makes unrealistic assumptions about the affordability and availability of food, as well as how long families have to buy and prepare meals.
And the executive order directs the Labor Department to consider clarifying that unemployed Americans can refuse to take jobs that they fear will endanger their health and still qualify for unemployment benefits.
This has become a problem during the pandemic because some unemployed people have been afraid to take jobs that they believe will expose them to the virus. States have varied in the way they have handled these situations, with Republican-led states expressing concern that improved unemployment benefits are luring people to avoid returning to work.
$ 15 wages as a federal base
Biden’s second executive order is aimed at improving the jobs of federal workers and contractors, which was one of the president’s campaign commitments. It sets the stage for requiring contractors to pay a minimum wage of $ 15 per hour and to provide emergency paid leave at the end of Biden’s first 100 days. It also directs agencies to determine which federal workers are earning less than that minimum and to develop recommendations to promote taking them up to $ 15 an hour.
President He included a call to raise the national minimum hourly wage to $ 15 as part of the $ 1.9 billion aid package he outlined last week before taking office. It currently costs $ 7.25 an hour.
The order also repeals three executive orders signed by then-President Donald Trump in 2018 that made it easier to lay off federal employees and weakened their unions. The measures have been the subject of litigation and arbitration.
Biden’s action directs the agencies to negotiate on permissible and non-binding issues in contract negotiations.
Separately, Deese said Friday that the administration will strengthen the government’s outreach efforts so that all eligible small business owners have access to federal aid.
Too many of the smaller family-friendly stores, usually run by people who have no existing connections to a banking institution, were unable to obtain a loan from the Federal Check Protection Program last year, he said.
CNN’s Katie Lobosco, Nikki Carvajal, and Betsy Klein contributed to this report.
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