President Biden issues more Executive Orders, takes further action to address the COVID-19 crisis; Senators Collins and King, and Rep. Golden meet with new Administration on proposed stimulus package; Rep. Pingree to Chair Appropriations Subcommittee

Federal Update…

Since taking office last Wednesday, President Biden has issued dozens of Executive Orders. In addition to the orders outlined in Impact last week, the President has taken further actions aimed at fighting COVID-19.

Directives include:

• Expanding testing and vaccine availability, with the goal of 100 million shots in his first 100 days in office. 
• Implementing a national mask order for all public transportation, including in airports, on planes, trains and ships.
• Travelers coming to the U.S. from abroad must test negative for COVID-19 and quarantine upon arrival.
• Ordering the “establishment of a Health Equity Task Force to ensure that minority and underserved communities are not left out of the government’s response.” 
• Increasing Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, and the pandemic school meals program for low-income students.
• The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is directed to set up vaccination centers, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is directed to begin a program to make vaccines available through local pharmacies, and the President announced an effort to train more people to administer shots.
• Use of the Cold War-era Defense Production Act to direct manufacturing of COVID-19 supplies.
• President Biden has announced his Administration is working to purchase 200 million more doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, “with the goal, the White House says, of having enough vaccine supply for the entire adult U.S. population by the end of the summer.”
• The President has set a goal of reopening K-8 schools in his first 100 days, permitting states to use FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund for assistance.
  
• On Thursday, President Biden issued an “Executive Order on Strengthening Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act,” which includes reopening the ACA for a special enrollment period.
  

 
More presidential actions include:
 

• WGME published an AP report that additional Executive Orders, “would restore union bargaining rights revoked by the Trump administration, protect the civil service system and promote a $15 hourly minimum wage for all federal workers. The Democratic president also plans to start a 100-day process for the federal government to require its contractors to pay at least $15 an hour and provide emergency paid leave to workers, which could put pressure on other private employers to boost their wages and benefits.”
• The President signed an order Monday encouraging the federal government to buy more American-made products.
• The Washington Post reports President Biden is poised to halt new fossil fuel leasing on federal land and water.
• The President also has signaled a massive infrastructure proposal is forthcoming.

 
      Both of Maine’s U.S. Senators, Susan Collins and Angus King, and other members of the Common Sense Coalition led by Sen. Collins and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia), met last weekend with the President’s economic advisors regarding Biden’s proposed $1.9 trillion stimulus package. According to news reports, lawmakers indicated broad support for spending on COVID-19 vaccine production and distribution. Sen. Collins was quoted in a Washington Post article published in the Press Herald saying, “There are still a lot of unanswered questions, most notably, how did the administration come up with $1.9 trillion required, given that our figures show that there’s still about $1.8 trillion left to be spent. We hope to get more data documenting the need from them.” Collins also indicated support for targeted stimulus payments for “lower-income workers and small businesses in the hospitality industry,” who “have been devastated.” In the same article, Sen. King said, “I think it’s important to note that call happened, that this was a genuine, open discussion between top White House staff and a dozen or so senators to try to establish how we move forward on a COVID relief package,” adding, “This isn’t Monopoly money. Every dollar that we’re talking about here is being borrowed from our grandchildren. We have a responsibility to be stewards.”
      Maine’s First District Representative to the U.S. House, Chellie Pingree, has been elected chair of the House Appropriations Subcommittee for Interior, Environment and Related Agencies. The Press Herald reports the subcommittee, “holds the purse strings for a wide swath of federal environmental, land use, arts, and tribal affairs agencies and programs.”
      Maine’s Second District Congressman Jared Golden and members of the U.S. House of Representatives’ bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus also met with the White House economic policy team via conference call on further COVID-19 relief legislation. Rep. Golden indicated in a statement following the meeting that, “Many of us urged the White House to do the hard work of building support for a targeted, bipartisan COVID package. It is clear that in the House and the Senate, there are members from both parties who understand the pressing need to take further action, which is why I think any talk of budget reconciliation as a tool at this stage is off the mark. Our bipartisan group is committed to showing the American people that their government can deliver the results necessary to overcome the COVID crisis, and we know that getting this job done is going to require the commitment and hard work of members of both parties.” 

More details are available at:

• Susan Collins’ moderate coalition wants to influence Joe Biden’s stimulus plan
• Biden signs 10 orders aimed at fighting coronavirus, tells nation ‘Help is on the way’
• Democratic, Republican lawmakers lobby White House for a more targeted relief bill
• The Biden Administration Is Working To Buy 200 Million More COVID-19 Vaccine Doses
• Buy American: Biden directs federal government to purchase more U.S.-made goods