James S. Brady Press Briefing Room
1:03 P.M. EST
MS. PSAKI: Good afternoon, everyone. Happy Friday. Today, we are joined by National Economic Council Director Brian Deese, who will highlight some key aspects of the executive orders the President is issuing today related to the economy and underline their impact on American families and workers.
Brian is kind enough to take a few questions; I didn’t have to twist his arm too much. But he does have to go to a briefing with the President, so I’ll be the bad cop and come up when he has to cut it off.
Go ahead, Brian.
MR. DEESE: Thanks, Jen. So I want to just take a couple minutes to talk to you about the executive actions that the President will take today.
But just to start with a little bit of context: Our economy is at a very precarious moment. We are 10 million jobs short still of where the economy was when this pandemic started. Last month, the economy lost jobs for the first time since last spring. Retail sales fell last month. And just yesterday, we saw another 900,000 Americans file for unemployment insurance. That’s a weekly rate that is higher than any week during the Great Recession.
It’s a moment that requires decisive action to beat this pandemic and support the economic recovery that American families need. That’s why, a week ago, President Biden laid out a comprehensive American Rescue Plan — a plan that is focused on changing the course of the pandemic, getting students back in school, and giving families and businesses a bridge to the economic recovery, while also addressing the stark inequities in our economy that this crisis has exposed.
We have been engaging closely with members of Congress, with governors, mayors, business and labor organizations in the week since, and we’ll continue to do so and hope that Congress will move quickly to consider this important proposal without delay.
At the same time, the American people are hurting, and they can’t afford to wait. They need help right now. And that’s the motivation behind the actions that the President will take today.
I want to be very clear these actions are not a substitute for comprehensive legislative relief, but they will provide a critical lifeline to millions of families.
So just to get into the specifics: The President will sign two executive orders today. The first directs agencies to consider a number of actions that will provide emergency relief for working families affected by the COVID-19 crisis, within existing authorities, and helping to correct some of the errors or omissions of the prior administration in providing families with relief.
I just want to touch on a couple of elements that are in that executive order to give you a sense of what we’re talking about.
On the issue of food insecurity, which is a growing crisis in America — of hunger — nearly 30 million Americans last week said that they didn’t have enough food to put on the table. So the President will ask the Department of Agriculture to consider taking immediate steps to provide nutrition assistance to hard-hit families, first by increasing pandemic EBT benefits by about 15 percent. This is the program that is aimed at supporting families who traditionally rely on the school lunch program to provide meals to millions of kids through their schools.
So in the pandemic — the Pandemic EBT program provides direct assistance to families to cover those costs. But the way it is being implemented today doesn’t get to the full costs necessary. So, with these changes, an eligible family with three children would get about an additional 100 bucks over two months to help pay for food.
Second, increasing the SNAP benefits — emergency SNAP benefits for as many as 12 million low-income Americans. This is the core program targeted at preventing hunger in America. And these changes — again, for a family of four — would mean about a 15 to 20 percent benefit increase.
And third, revising the Thrifty Food Plan — which is really the basis for determining SNAP benefits — is out of date and needs to be updated to better reflect the cost of a healthy diet.
Another element of this executive order is to promote worker safety. And here, President Biden will ask the Department of Labor to consider clarifying that workers have a federally guaranteed right to refuse employment that would jeopardize their health. And if they do so, they will still qualify for unemployment insurance.