Biden Expands Food Stamps, Moves To Raise Minimum Wage As Stimulus Battle Brews

The Biden Administration’s flurry of no fewer than 50 executive orders, executive actions and legislative action-items continued apace on Friday as the administration turned its attention to combating economic and “racial” inequality, following Thursday’s COVID focus. Biden is cooking up two new EOs on Friday, one which raises the minimum wage nationally, and another expanding food stamp accessibility.

The administration appears to be pivoting on from Thursday’s theme – combating the COVID crisis – to Friday’s theme (as previewed yesterday by the Hill a day ago)  which is focused entirely on “economic/racial” inequality.

First thing’s first, Biden is signing two executive orders Thursday aimed at speeding pandemic stimulus checks to families who need it most, while increasing food aid for children who normally rely on school meals as a main source of nutrition.

Biden, who has proposed a $1.9 trillion stimulus package (at least the third since the start of this whole debacle, if one counts the measure passed last fall by Trump and his team), is using the two orders to try to ease the financial burden on Americans while Congress continues to battle over the next stimulus package, which is already seeing some (not-unexpected) pushback from Republicans like Mitt Romney who once lambasted Trump for his utter unwillingness to work with the other side (even though they once would have done the same.

Here’s more on the package from Reuters:

Biden, who has proposed a $1.9 trillion stimulus package, is using the two orders to try to ease the burden on people while the legislation is negotiated in Congress. He has made fighting the pandemic an early focus of his new administration.

The pandemic recession has hit Americans hard. Some 16 million are now receiving some type of unemployment benefit, and an estimated 29 million don’t have enough to eat. Women, minorities and low-income service workers have been disproportionately impacted, with Black and Hispanic workers facing higher jobless rates than white workers.

“We’re at a precarious moment in our economy,” Brian Deese, director of the White House National Economic Council, told reporters in a preview of the orders.

He said the actions are not a substitute for comprehensive legislative relief, “but they will provide a critical lifeline to millions of American families.”

The new president’s first agenda item will be taking steps to expand and improve delivery of stimulus checks.

In the first order, Biden will ask the Treasury Department to consider taking steps to expand and improve delivery of stimulus checks, such as establishing online tools for claiming payments. “Many Americans faced challenges receiving the first round of direct payments and as many as 8 million eligible households did not receive the payments issued in March,” a White House fact sheet said.

On the minimum wage front, Biden plans to sign a Friday Executive Order which would require federal contractors to pay their workers a $15 minimum wage as well as provide emergency paid leave. The Order will direct the Federal government to “start the work that would allow him to issue” and order “within the first 100 days” requiring the $15 per hour minimum wage.

Yet, as we noted on Wednesday, 75 years of minimum wage boosts have had a negative effect on employment, every time.

Biden is also seeking to supply more access to school children and families who normally depend on these school focused programs. But instead of doing it unilaterally, he wiill ask the Agriculture Department to come up with new guidelines promising at least one free meal a day for families with children who once  depended on in-school lunches. Per Reuters, this could provide a family with three children more than $100 of additional support every two months.

“USDA will consider issuing new guidance that would allow states to increase SNAP emergency allotments for those who need it most. This would be the first step to ensuring that an additional 12 million people get enhanced SNAP benefits to keep nutritious food on the table,” the fact sheet said.

Circling back to the massive nearly $2 trillion stimulus program, it looks like moderate Republicans who were the first to repudiate Trump are also being the first to back away from yet another “socialistic” stimulus package despite the demands from Janet Yellen for Congress to “Go Big” or go home.

As of now, it looks like the package won’t pass muster in the Democrat-controlled Congress, where their slim majority in the Senate and the House could prove a sticking point, unless Mitt Romney, Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins have their way.

Even as stocks rally to ever-higher highs, it’s important to remember that millions of Americans were bitter abiuitSome 16MM are now receiving some type of unemployment benefit, and an estimated 29 million don’t have enough to eat.

“We’re at a precarious moment in our economy,” said White House Economic Director Brian Deese, who gave reporters in a preview of the orders.

For millions of working-class Americans about to burn through the last of their savings, this could be a major lifeline. For the rest, it’s just more fodder for their Robinhood-assisted options trading strategy.