President Biden presented a bleak view on the country’s ability to fight the coronavirus pandemic on Friday, while asking Congress to move forward with additional stimulus measures.
Biden spoke about his government’s response efforts during a press conference on two executive orders aimed at providing food assistance to low-income families and protecting workers’ rights during the pandemic. Days after the US exceeded 400,000 COVID-19-related deaths, the president warned that the country had little capacity in the short term to prevent the increase in the total number of cases.
“If we do not act, there will be a wave of evictions and foreclosures in the coming months, as the pandemic intensifies because there is nothing we can do to change the path of the pandemic in the coming months,” said Biden.
Biden had promised efforts to boost the US economy and providing aid to struggling Americans would be his priority when entering the Oval Office. The two executive decrees on Friday followed 10 other pandemic-related actions he signed the day before, including a mandate requiring the use of masks on federal land.
The president faced some resistance in his comments on the path of the pandemic. Critics, including former Michigan representative Justin Amash, pointed out that coronavirus-related restrictions imposed in several states were intended to “flatten the curve”.
“Haven’t we been told for months that restrictions and mandates were needed to change the path of the pandemic in the coming months?” Amash wrote on Twitter.
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Biden said the death toll in the country “is expected to reach well over 600,000”. The president reiterated his call to Congress in his “American Rescue Plan”, a $ 1.9 trillion aid package that includes $ 1,400 direct payments to Americans, increased unemployment insurance and federal aid to state and local governments .
“The American Rescue Plan asks Congress to provide rental assistance to millions of families and tenants hard hit,” said Biden. “This will also be a bridge for the economic recovery of countless family owners who cannot afford not to have the rent.”