One is aimed at improving the work of federal workers and contractors, who were under the president’s campaign commitments. It implements another executive order that he must sign within the first 100 days, requiring federal contractors to pay a minimum wage of $ 15 per hour and provide emergency pay. It also advises agencies to determine which federal workers earn less than the minimum, and to develop recommendations to increase them to $ 15 per hour.
The second executive order seeks to provide assistance in various ways to those who are out of work or struggling to buy food.
“The American people can not afford to wait,” said Brian Deese, director of the National Economic Council, noting that data from the Census Bureau shows that nearly 30 million people do not always have enough to eat. “And so many are hanging on to a wire. They need help, and we are committed to doing everything in our power to provide the help as quickly as possible.”
Biden is expected to sign additional orders in the coming days, according to a calendar document sent to CNN’s administration allies. His agenda next week includes steps to tighten government requirements to buy goods and services from U.S. companies, a push to eliminate private prisons, the resettlement of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, and the so-called Mexico City policy that blocks the federal, repeals funding for non-governmental organizations that provide abortion services, and the change of policy regarding border processing and refugees as well as the establishment of a task force for family reunification.
Restoring public service protections
Friday’s first executive order also repeals three executive orders signed by then-President Donald Trump in 2018, making it easier to terminate federal employees and weaken their unions. The measures are subject to litigation and arbitration.
Biden’s actions require the agencies to negotiate on permissible topics during contract negotiations.
Helping families in need
The order also directs the department to consider allowing states to promote benefits for food stamps for approximately 12 million Americans who have not previously received an increase in their emergency allocations.
And the president is asking the agency to review the Thrifty Food Plan, which is the basis for determining benefits for food stamps, to better reflect the current cost of a healthy basic diet.
Food insecurity flew during the pandemic amid huge job losses. The legislative legislation on emergency loans adopted in December increases until June 15 the maximum benefit of the supplementary nutrition aid program, as food stamps are formally known. Biden’s relief measure would extend it to September.
In addition, Biden will ask the Treasury Department to consider taking a series of actions to reach the estimated eight million people who may have missed their stimulus payments because they do not normally charge taxes.
And the executive order commands the Department of Labor to consider explaining that unemployed Americans may refuse to take jobs they fear will endanger their health and still be eligible for unemployment benefits.
It became a problem during the pandemic because people who were not working were afraid to accept jobs that they said would be exposed to the virus. States differed in how they handled these situations.
CNN’s Katie Lobosco, Nikki Carvajal and Betsy Klein contributed to this report.