Biden signs executive orders to expand food stamps, up federal pay

Washington, Jan 23 : US President Joe Biden has signed two executive orders, one to expand food assistance to low-income Americans, and the other to raise minimum wage to $15 for federal employees.
“We need to tackle the growing hunger crisis in American,” Xinhua news agency quoted Biden as saying before signing the orders on Friday.
He noted that one in seven households in America, more than one in five Black and Latino households in America, report they do not have enough food to eat.
That includes 30 million adults and as many as 12 million children, the President continued.
With the signing of one of the executive orders, the Department of Agriculture will consider taking immediate steps to make it easier for the hardest hit families to enrol and claim more generous benefits in the critical food and nutrition assistance areas, he said.
The order would also increase Pandemic-EBT, an electronic debit card program for students who would have qualified for free or reduced-price meals at school.