Joe Biden will sign an executive order today to expedite the process of sending the third stimulus check, and more
President Joe Biden will sign this Friday two executive orders aimed mainly at expedite delivery of aid checks to families who need it most and increase food aid for children which, in normal times, rely on school meals, the White House announced.
Biden also seeks to clear the way for federal workers to have a minimum wage of $15 dollars per hour.
These executive orders are a stopgap measure for millions of families while Congress considers its $1.9 trillion relief plan to help those affected by the pandemic.
“The American people cannot afford to wait,” said Brian Deese, director of the White House National Economic Council. “Many are hanging by a thread. They need help, and we are committed to doing everything we can to provide that help as quickly as possible,” he added.
Deese stressed that the orders are not substitutes for additional encouragement which, according to Biden, is needed beyond those that were approved under the previous Administration.
In the first order, Biden will ask the Treasury Department to consider taking steps to expand and improve delivery of stimulus checks, such as the establishment of online tools to claim payments.
“Many Americans had trouble receiving the first round of direct payments, and as many as eight million eligible households did not receive payments issued in March,” a White House fact sheet notes.
In addition, Biden will ask the Department of Agriculture to increase a food assistance program by 15% due to COVID-19 which provides nutritional assistance to families with children who normally have access to free or very low-cost meals in normal times. This help could provide a family with three children more than $100 in extra help every two months.
It will also ask this department to expand the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) — commonly known as food stamps — to include people with the lowest income levels, according to a fact sheet provided by the White House. .
The second executive order Biden is expected to sign will revoke orders signed by former President Donald Trump to restore collective bargaining power and ask federal agencies to pay a $15 minimum wage The time. The federal minimum wage has been at $7.25 an hour since 2009.
Biden will also ask this department to allow workers who refuse a job for fear of health risks to be eligible for unemployment benefits.
Several Republican lawmakers have voiced their opposition to the provisions of Biden’s plan regarding direct payments to individuals, aid to state and local governments, and a minimum wage of $15 an hour nationwide.
The economic challenge facing incoming President Joe Biden became even more apparent on the second day of his term when The Department of Labor reported that 900,000 people applied for unemployment benefits for the first timea lower number than the previous week, but still extraordinarily high compared to the pre-pandemic numbers.
