Washington:
US President Joe Biden on Thursday signed the massive USD 1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan which is expected to provide a major boost to the country’s economy.
Among other measures, it will provide USD 1400 check to a majority of Americans.
Biden, in his brief remarks, described it as a historic legislation which is about rebuilding the backbone of the country and giving a fighting chance to the people in this nation, working people, middle-class folks, people that built the country.
”That is what the essence of it is, and I’m going to have a lot more to say about that tonight and the next couple of days and be able to take your questions,” he told reporters at the Oval Office of the White House.
”In the weeks that this bill has been discussed and debated, it is clear that an overwhelming percentage of the American people, Democrats, independents, Republican friends have made it clear — the people out there made it clear they strongly support the American Rescue Plan,” Biden said.
Later in the night, the president is scheduled to deliver his maiden prime time address to the nation. ”Today marks the one-year anniversary of the shutdown due to COVID-19, and the president will speak directly to the American people about the sacrifices made — from the more than 500,000 lives lost to the millions of people who have lost their jobs and the even millions more who have been impacted by the pandemic,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters at her daily news conference.
He will provide an update on the work of his team to address the greatest operational challenge the country has faced and the work his team has done to rapidly increase the number of vaccinations, vaccines, vaccinators and vaccination sites, and he will lay out the next steps he will take to get the pandemic under control.
Next week, the president, the vice president, the first lady, and the second gentleman will be travelling across the country to kick off the tour and amplify the American Rescue Plan.
On Monday, the first lady will travel to Burlington, New Jersey; the vice president and second gentleman will travel to Las Vegas, Nevada. On Tuesday, the president will travel to Delaware County, Pennsylvania, she said.
The vice president and second gentleman will travel to Denver, Colorado. On Wednesday, the second gentleman will travel to Albuquerque, New Mexico and on Friday the president and the vice president will travel to Atlanta, Georgia.
”During their trips, they will discuss the benefits of the American Rescue Plan for working families, and they will engage with people at each of these stops about how the American people can benefit from the components of the package moving forward,” Psaki said, adding that they will talk about the USD 1400 checks that more than 158.5 million American households can expect and which and many who will start receiving them soon. He will talk about the historic expansion of the child tax credit.
”They will all talk about extending unemployment insurance for around 11 million Americans, the tens of billions of dollars in rental and homeowners assistance that is a part of this package, the expansion of the earned income tax credit which will go to 17 million workers and the components of the package that significantly reduce health insurance premiums for millions of American families and of course the fact that the bill will lift 11 million people out of poverty and cut child poverty in half,” Psaki said.
The Department of Treasury, and the IRS are working hard to get relief payments out the door as fast as possible to the American people, she said.
”People can expect to start seeing direct deposits hit their bank accounts as early as this weekend. This is of course just the first wave but people will start — some people in the country will start seeing those direct deposits in their bank accounts this weekend and payments to eligible Americans will continue throughout the course of the next several,” Psaki said.
