Biden administration defends use of executive actions
White House press secretary Jen Psaki in a press briefing Thursday pushed back on criticism of the administration’s heavy use of executive actions, pointing to Biden’s continued work to get his COVID-19 package passed.
Psaki also added that Biden was simply undoing the damaging policies of the Trump administration with his actions.
“In terms of executive actions, he also ran with a commitment to take steps immediately to address the pain and suffering that the American people were feeling," Psaki said. "And that includes overturning some of the detrimental, harmful, and at times immoral policies and actions of the prior administration. But he's the first to tell you, as he said many times publicly, he's not going to take executive action alone. That’s why he's put forward a number of packages that he's actively working with members of both parties to move forward on."
Thursday's actions on health care add to a series of executive moves by Biden in his first week as president, setting an ambitious tone for his administration on a number of policy areas. Since entering office on Jan. 20, Biden has signed more than 30 executive actions addressing the coronavirus pandemic, economy, immigration, climate crisis and more.
-ABC News' Molly Nagle