Biden signs 2 Executive Orders on food, stimulus payments for low-income consumers

*The US National Economic Council Director reveals over 10 million Americans are out of work, 14 million Americans are behind on their rents, and almost 30 million adults as well as 12 million children are experiencing food insecurity in the country

Isola Moses | ConsumerConnect

As a significant measure in tackling the country’s current economic crisis, United States (US) President Joe Biden Friday, January 22 signed two more Executive Orders.

ConsumerConnect learnt of the two more presidential actions, one focuses on expanding food assistance under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance, and delivering stimulus cheques to low-income Americans, and the other directs Federal agencies to jack up the minimum wage for Federal workers to $15 per hour.

The fresh measures build on the President’s drive to aid struggling families with a $1.9 trillion relief plan that Biden earlier outlined.

The plan would send another $1,400 in additional stimulus cheques, extend unemployment benefits and nutrition assistance and provide more help to renters and homeowners in need.

That more ambitious proposal would have to go through Congress, while the steps outlined in Friday’s orders don’t require legislation and can be put in place faster, CNN report said.

The President before signing the executive orders had listed many of the financial troubles facing Americans.

These he stated include, 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 on their rent and 900,000 people filed for unemployment for the first time last week.

He said: “This cannot be who we are as a country. These are not the values of our nation. We cannot, will not let people go hungry.

“We cannot let people get evicted because of nothing they did themselves. We cannot watch people lose their jobs. We have to act.”

Brian Deese, US National Economic Council Director, at a White House briefing earlier Friday had contended that the right policy move is to continue expanding aid now, rather than waiting to see whether the $900 billion aid package that Congress passed last month is sufficient.

Deese referred to a Moody’s Analytics analysis that found that Biden’s relief plan would create 7.5 million jobs this year and return the country to full employment a year ahead of what is otherwise projected.

“The single most important thing economically right now is to take decisive action,” Deese said during the briefing.

It was gathered that tens of millions Americans continue to suffer financial hardship because of the havoc the Coronavirus pandemic has wrought on the economy, which has shown signs of intensifying in recent months.

The number of people filing for initial unemployment claims has increased recently, and the economy lost jobs in December for the first time since April.

Biden has pushed for quickly adding more relief on top of the much-delayed $900 billion congressional aid package, which included $600 stimulus cheques and a $300 weekly boost to unemployment benefits, as well as an 11-week extension of two key pandemic jobless programmes. The measure also increased food assistance and extended eviction protections.

Specifically, Biden’s latest executive order aims to boost food aid to low-income families and children and get the already-approved stimulus cheques to Americans who don’t routinely file taxes and aren’t easily reached by the Treasury.

The National Economic Council Director, in his remark prior to the development Thursday had disclosed the COVID-19 pandemic led to significant financial hardship for several millions of Americans, and those who are out of work or struggling to buy food “can’t afford to wait. We’re at a precarious moment in our economy.”

Deese further stated: “We saw again today 900,000 new claims for unemployment insurance, another week at a level above any week during the Great Recession.

“More than 10 million Americans are out of work, 14 million Americans are behind on their rent and nearly 30 million adults and as many as 12 million children are experiencing food insecurity.

“So 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.”

According to him, the President’s actions aren’t a substitute for comprehensive legislative relief, “but they will provide a critical lifeline to millions of American families.”