Executive Orders: Biden to sign orders that include moves towards $ 15 minimum wage for federal workers and contractors

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One is to improve the jobs of federal workers and contractors, which was part of the president’s campaign pledges. He is putting in motion another executive order he plans to sign in the first 100 days requiring federal contractors to pay a minimum hourly wage of $ 15 and grant emergency paid leave. It also requires agencies to determine which federal workers earn less than that minimum and develop recommendations to promote their contribution to $ 15 an hour.

Biden has included a call to raise the national hourly minimum wage to $ 15 as part of the $ 1.9 trillion relief package he described last week before taking office. It is currently $ 7.25 an hour.

The second decree aims to provide assistance in various ways to those who are out of work or who have difficulty in purchasing food.

“The American people cannot afford to wait,” said Brian Deese, director of the National Economic Council, noting that Census Bureau data shows nearly 30 million people still don’t have enough to eat. “And so many people are hanging on by a thread. They need help, and we are committed to doing everything possible to provide that help as quickly as possible.

Biden has signed a series of executive orders, actions and memoranda since being sworn in on Wednesday, including immediate steps to help student borrowers and those facing deportation. Thursday, he formalized the measures to control the coronavirus pandemic.
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Biden is expected to sign additional orders over the next few days, according to a timeline document sent to administration allies and viewed by CNN. His next week’s agenda includes measures to tighten requirements for the government to purchase goods and services from US companies, push to eliminate private prisons, reinstate the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and technology, overturning the so-called Mexico City policy blocking the federal government. funding of non-governmental organizations that provide abortion services; and modification of border and refugee treatment policies as well as the creation of a working group on family reunification.

Restore protections for the public service

Friday’s first executive order will also revoke three executive orders signed by then-President Donald Trump in 2018 that facilitated the sacking of federal employees and weakened their unions. The measures have been the subject of litigation and arbitration.

Biden’s action forces agencies to negotiate on authorized and non-mandatory topics in contract negotiations.

Friday’s order also eliminates the new Schedule F classification for certain federal public service employees, which Trump created in October by executive order. Critics have said Trump’s move politicizes the civil service and could lead to the expulsion of career leaders for political reasons.

Help families in need

The second order calls on the Agriculture Department to consider increasing pandemic-EBT benefits by 15%, which would give a family with three children more than $ 100 in extra support every two months. The program, part of relief packages passed by Congress last March, provides funds to low-income families whose children’s schools have closed to replace free or reduced-cost meals they have allegedly received.
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In addition, the order directs the department to consider allowing states to increase food stamp benefits for about 12 million Americans who have not received a prior increase in their emergency allowances.

And the president is asking the agency to review revising its thrifty food plan, which is the basis for determining the benefits of food stamps, to better reflect the current cost of a healthy staple diet.

Food insecurity has exploded during the pandemic amid massive job losses. The relief bill passed by lawmakers in December increases the maximum benefit of the supplementary nutrition assistance program, as the food stamps are officially known, by 15% until June. Biden’s relief measure would extend it until September.

In addition, Biden will ask the Treasury Department to consider taking a series of measures to try to reach the estimated 8 million people who may have missed their stimulus payments because they normally do not file taxes.

And the executive order directs the Department of Labor to consider clarifying that unemployed Americans can refuse to accept jobs they fear will jeopardize their health and still be entitled to unemployment benefits.

This became a problem during the pandemic because some unemployed people were afraid to take jobs that they believed would expose them to the virus. States have varied in the way they have handled these situations.

CNN’s Katie Lobosco, Nikki Carvajal and Betsy Klein contributed to this report.

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