President Biden signed two executive orders on Friday, one of which would increase federal food aid and deliver stimulus controlswhile the president tries to stabilize the economy without help from Congress amid the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.
“We must act now,” Mr. Biden said in comments before signing the orders. “We can’t, don’t want to, let people go hungry.”
Mr. Biden has suggested one $ 1.9 trillion contingency plan to Congress, but it is unclear whether it will receive enough Republican support to pass on a bipartisan basis. Until Congress is able to pass a new emergency law, Mr. Biden’s actions are intended as emergency measures to stabilize the economy.
Some Republicans have questioned whether there is still a need for a second, larger emergency after Congress passed a $ 900 billion bill in December. But in his comments on Friday, Mr. Biden that the most recent emergency was just a “down payment.”
“We need more action, and we need to act quickly,” said Mr Biden. ‘We are in a national emergency. We must act as if we are in a national emergency. So we have to get on with everything we have. ‘
In the first order, Mr. Biden asks the United States Department of Agriculture to allow states to increase the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits – commonly known as food stamps – by 15%. Congress recently passed a $ 1 trillion bill that increased the maximum SNAP benefit by 15%, but that didn’t help the 40% of SNAP recipients who already had the maximum benefit. Mr. Biden’s order tells the USDA to “consider issuing new guidelines that would allow states to increase SNAP emergency allocations for those who need it most,” according to a White House information sheet. mean that another 12 million people get enhanced benefits.
The order would also increase Pandemic-EBT, an electronic debit card program for students who would qualify for free meals or meals at a discounted price in school. Mr. Biden directs the USDA to “consider issuing new guidelines to increase P-EBT benefits by approximately 15% to accurately reflect the cost of missing meals and make it easier for households to receive benefits. to claim “. According to the White House, this could give a family with three children an additional $ 100 per month in support.
Under the order, the USDA would also reassess the Thrifty Food Plan, the basis for determining SNAP benefits. According to the White House fact sheet, the plan is “out of date with the economic realities most households face when trying to buy and prepare healthy food.”
Due to the economic impact of the pandemic, more American families are struggling to get food on the table in the past months. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a non-partisan research institute, reported that nearly one in five adults with children reported that their families sometimes or often did not have enough to eat in the past seven days, according to data collected between December and December of the USDA had been collected. 9-21. Black and Latino adults also report more than twice as likely that their families were not getting enough to eat than white families.
Increasing SNAP benefits would also benefit the weaker economy. During an economic downturn, more people tend to enroll in SNAP. These enrollees then spend this federal aid, which in turn generates revenue for those who produce, transport, and sell the food. A 2019 analysis by the USDA Economic Research Service found that a $ 1 billion increase in SNAP benefits could increase the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) by $ 1.54 billion and support nearly 14,000 jobs.
Mr. Biden’s mission is also to streamline the delivery of incentive vouchers for those who have not yet received their direct payments. Congress last month passed a bill to provide $ 600 in direct payments to Americans earning below a certain threshold. Mr. Biden, who is in favor of increasing payments to $ 2,000, will also ask Congress to pass legislation that provides for additional $ 1,400 direct checks.
Mr. Biden also issued a second executive order to improve the gathering of bargaining power and protections for federal employees, and ordered the Office of Personnel Management to develop recommendations to increase the minimum wage for federal employees to $ 15 an hour.