WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 05th June, 2020) US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to accelerate the United States' economic recovery from the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) by expediting the permit process for infrastructure projects and other activities, the White House said in a press release.
"I will continue to use existing legal authorities to respond to the full dimensions of the national emergency and its economic consequences," Trump said in the order on Thursday. "These authorities include statutes and regulations that allow for expedited government decision making in exigent circumstances."
The executive order directs the heads of agencies in Federal government, such as the departments of Labor and Agriculture, the Army Corps of Engineers and others, to use emergency powers to roll back regulations that delay infrastructure projects, Trump said.
The heads of agencies must provide a report in 30 days of projects they expedited in order to boost the US economic recovery effort, Trump said.
Nearly 43 million Americans have lost their jobs due to the measures imposed to fight the novel coronavirus pandemic, according to the US Labor Department.
The US economy shrank 5 percent in the first three months of 2020 for the sharpest economic decline since the Great Recession of 2008. Despite all 50 states in the United States having reopened to some extent, economists still warn of sharp recession by the second quarter, meaning job losses could remain sizable.
