Biden shifts focus to economy on second full-day in office
Yahoo Finance's Jessica Smith joined Yahoo FInance Live to break down the latest Washington D.C. updates as President Biden shifts his focus to the economy on his second full-day in office.
Video Transcript
ADAM SHAPIRO: We're also awaiting Joe Biden's plans on the economy. We've got Jessica Smith standing by right now because there's a great deal unfolding just within the last hour. Jessica.
JESSICA SMITH: Hey, Adam. Yeah, we are waiting on President Biden any minute now. He will be coming out to sign several executive orders aimed at delivering economic relief. Earlier today, the National Economic Council director Brian Deese briefed reporters about these executive orders and what exactly they would do. They would expand access to food assistance. They would speed up the distribution of stimulus checks and improve that process.
It would also ask the Labor Department to make sure that workers who are refusing work because they feel unsafe in working conditions or they fear health risk, make sure those workers do qualify for unemployment benefits. It would also start laying the groundwork for ensuring federal workers and contractors are making a $15 an hour minimum wage and have paid leave. That's something that President Biden wants to do within his first 100 days in office.
One of the executive orders today would also roll back some of President Trump's orders when it comes to federal workers. But the White House is noting that these executive actions are not enough. They're not a substitute for comprehensive legislation. We have heard that today, talking about just how important that $1.9 trillion stimulus plan is. And they did talk to reporters about why the White House believes another nearly $2 trillion package is necessary after a $900 billion bill just made it through Congress a couple of weeks ago. Here's what Brian Deese had to say.
BRIAN DEESE: We waited for six months or more before Congress acted. And so, really, a lot of what that $900 billion was doing was filling a hole in the second half of 2020 that desperately needed to be filled. And so, this is not an issue of Congress acting too much. It's an issue of not acting enough.
JESSICA SMITH: Now it looks like President Biden did just walk out to the podium, so we'll have to keep you updated on what he's saying in the next few minutes here. But one point that the White House has been really stressing all day long is that they don't want impeachment, the impeachment trial to get in the way of COVID relief.
The White House is acknowledging the Senate needs to move on this impeachment trial, do their duties there. But they also want them to work on this COVID relief package. We heard the Press Secretary saying today they can multitask. They can do two things at once. And even if the Senate is dealing with this trial, the House could move forward on the bill. So that's where the White House's thinking is on that issue right now. We'll have to keep you updated again on what President Biden is saying now.
SEANA SMITH: Jess, another priority of the Biden administration, of course, is going to be getting his picks confirmed. And Janet Yellen is on the verge of confirmation for Treasury Secretary. But when can we expect a full vote? Because there was talk about this happening today. Has that been pushed to next week?
JESSICA SMITH: It's still up in the air. It could happen as soon as today. It could happen early next week. Things are pretty fluid at the moment, but she did make it through the Senate Finance Committee unanimously today. It was a 26 to nothing vote. So we do expect her to be confirmed at some point. It looks like she is on track to be confirmed. We've heard from Republicans who say they don't agree with her on many issues, but they can't deny that she is qualified to be in this position. So we'll see when this happens-- again, maybe later today, maybe early next week.
ADAM SHAPIRO: Jessica Smith in Washington, DC.
