Biden Mark Makela/Getty Images/AFP
US President-elect Joe Biden on Friday introduced
the final members of his “worker power” economic team and pledged
to provide more help for struggling families and small
businesses.
Speaking just one day after lawmakers finally certified his
election victory following the invasion of the US Capitol by
supporters of outgoing president Donald Trump, Biden announced he
would next week unveil a relief program for the pandemic-ravaged
economy.
The far-reaching package including stimulus checks to taxpayers
and an increase in the minimum wage will be a top priority for
Biden, along with accelerating the Covid-19 vaccine rollout that he
called “a travesty.”
“We need more direct relief flowing to families, small
businesses, including finishing the job of getting people the
$2,000 in relief direct payment,” he said.
The $600 stimulus checks included in an aid package Congress
approved in late December “is simply not enough,” Biden said at an
event in Wilmington, Delaware.
The Senate blocked an effort to increase the second round of
stimulus payments to $2,000, but Biden said families are having “to
choose between paying rent, putting food on the table (and) keeping
the lights on.”
His team also will give special attention to small businesses,
especially those owned by minorities, and provide “support to help
them get through the other side of this crisis”
He lamented that under the Trump administration “big,
well-connected bus inesses jumped in front of the line” to get aid,
and vowed to tighten controls to prevent fraud.
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In an aid package passed in December, Congress approved $284
billion for a second round of loans to small businesses via the
Paycheck Protection Program, which are due to roll out starting
next week.
Biden said money is needed to reopen schools safely, and also
for state and local governments to retain teachers, police officers
and firefighters.
With Democrats poised to take control of both houses of Congress
following victories in two Senate runoff races in Georgia, Biden
said he hopes to win support for increasing the US minimum wage to
$15 an hour.
“I’ve long said that we need to reward work, not just wealth, in
this country. People in both parties recognize it’s time to raise
the minimum wage,” he said.
If confirmed by the Senate, the nominees he introduced Friday
will play key roles in implementing his economic programs.
He named Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo as Commerce
Secretary, Boston mayor and former union president Martin Walsh as
Labor Secretary, and Isabel Guzman, a former official in Barack
Obama’s administration, as Small Business Administration chief.
Raimondo would be involved in negotiating the aftermath of trade
wars instigated by Trump, as well as in the ongoing debate over how
to regulate tech giants.
Read more https://swordpress.com.ng/2021/01/09/biden-promises-economic-help-is-on-the-way/