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U.S. President Joe Biden, facing congressional resistance to his "care economy" proposals, on Tuesday signed an executive order aimed at advancing free preschool and expanding affordable care for children, older Americans and those with disabilities. Biden signed the order, which includes over 50 specific actions, in the White House Rose Garden, flanked by family caregivers, people with disabilities, older adults and early childhood and long-term care workers. (Bose and Shalal, 4/18)

Additional steps outlined in the executive order would seek to improve working conditions for early educators, long-term care workers and child care workers, with the order instructing the department of Health and Human Services to increase pay and benefits for Head Start employees, issue regulations to ensure Medicaid funding for long-term and home care workers caring for Medicaid enrollees and testing a new dementia care model that would include support for respite care under Medicare. (Judd, 4/18)

When Paloma Bouhid began working as a concierge at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida seven years ago, it was the first time she received health care insurance. But the lifeline she found through her job unexpectedly slipped away in 2020, when at 26 she lost her job during a round of mass layoffs. (Acevedo and Flores, 4/19)

Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra violated the Hatch Act by expressing support for Democratic Senator Alex Padilla's re-election at a public event last year, a U.S. government watchdog said on Tuesday. The U.S. Office of Special Counsel report cited Becerra's comments that he intended to vote for Padilla while speaking at a Congressional Hispanic Caucus dinner in September in his official capacity as having "mixed his personal electoral preference with official remarks." (4/18)