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President Joe Biden will sign an executive order aimed at tackling anticompetitive prices, including prescription drugs. The Education Department cancels $1.5 billion in student debt, plus more top stories in democratic politics and initiatives.
President Joe Biden will sign a wide-ranging executive order on Friday which seeks to control anti-competitive pricing. The executive order will comprise 72 initiatives that will have an effect on multiple industries, including “big tech.” The Hill reported.
Industries affected by the order include broadband services, prescription drug pricing, and hearing aids to name a few. The initiative also includes directing the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to work with states on importing prescription drugs from Canada. The initiative will order officials to develop a “comprehensive plan” aimed at lowering drug prices within 45 days.
The orders will also affect business practices such as making it easier for people to get refunds from airlines, selling hearing aids over-the-counter, as well as make it easier for employees to barter for better wages.
The order also will look at several industries where mergers are hurting consumers, in particular technology and hospitals.
Through the Biden administration, the Department of Education has canceled $1.5 billion in student loan debt for almost 92,000 students who were victims of for-profit college fraud, CNN reported.
Last month, the Education Department said it was canceling $500 million in student loan debt for 18,000 former ITT Tech students.
In an op-ed published on Wednesday, Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton urged Americans to fight Republican efforts to change voting laws.
“We are witnessing a concerted attempt to destabilize the democratic process and delegitimize our multi-racial democracy, carried out in full view of the American people,” Clinton wrote in the piece published on Democracy Docket. “As Democrats, it’s not enough to push back one law, one court case or even one election at a time. We need to fundamentally change the way we think about and fight back against this blatant, sweeping effort.”
“The emboldening of white supremacists and conspiracy theorists during Trump’s campaign and time in the White House along with the international movement against liberal democracy have exacerbated this perfect storm,” Clinton added. “We need to call these attacks on voting what they are: part of a clear attempt to move away from a pluralistic, multi-racial democracy and toward white supremacist authoritarianism.”
Following an announcement of a $20 million investment by Democratic National Committee (DNC) chairman Jamie Harrison, vice president, Harris announced on Thursday that the DNC will be investing an additional $25 million into its voting rights initiative.
“This campaign is grounded in the firm belief that everyone’s vote matters,” Harris said, “that your vote matters.”
Democrats have argued that Republican the voting bills arising in legislatures across the country threatened to suppress historically disenfranchised communities, particularly Black voters, ABC reported.
