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The package includes $ 415 billion to boost the COVID-19 response and vaccine launch, as well as $ 1,400 checks for individuals.
US President-elect Joe Biden has unveiled a $ 1.9 trillion stimulus package proposal designed to jumpstart the economy and accelerate America’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Biden campaigned last year on a promise to take the pandemic more seriously than President Donald Trump, and the package aims to put that promise into action with an influx of resources for the coronavirus response and economic recovery.
“It is not difficult to see that we are in the middle of an economic crisis that occurs once in several generations with a public health crisis that occurs once in several generations. A crisis of profound human suffering is in the offing and there is no time to lose, ”Biden said in a primetime address Thursday night. “We have to act and we have to act now.”
Details of the aid package were released by Biden’s transition team early Thursday.
It includes $ 415 billion to bolster the response to the virus and the launch of COVID-19 vaccines, about $ 1 trillion in direct aid to households, and approximately $ 440 billion for small businesses and communities particularly affected by the pandemic.
The stimulus paychecks would be issued for $ 1,400, supplementing the $ 600 checks issued under the latest stimulus legislation from Congress. Supplemental Unemployment Insurance would also increase to $ 400 per week from $ 300 per week now and run through September.
Long lines at food banks like this one at the Los Angeles Boys & Girls Club in the Lincoln Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles remain commonplace as millions of American families continue to struggle with job losses and reduced hours due to the pandemic. [File: Jae C Hong/AP Photo]
Biden’s plan is meant to kick off his tenure with a big bill that quickly sets his short-term agenda in motion: helping the economy and controlling a virus that has killed more than 385,000 people in the United States.
It also provides a stark contrast to Trump, who spent the final months of his administration seeking to undermine Biden’s election victory rather than focus on further relief from the coronavirus. However, Trump, who leaves office on Wednesday, did support payments of $ 2,000 to Americans.
Many Republicans in Congress objected to the price of such payments, and Biden will face similar obstacles with his proposals, although it will help him that his fellow Democrats will control both the House and the Senate.
The incoming president will seek to pass the legislation even as his predecessor faces impeachment.
The Democratic-led House of Representatives voted to impeach Trump on Wednesday, making him the first president in US history to be indicted twice. Ten of his fellow Republicans joined Democrats in accusing him of inciting an insurrection in last week’s deadly rampage on Capitol Hill.
The impeachment process threatens to be suspended early in Biden’s term, and Biden has encouraged lawmakers to handle the trial while moving forward with his agenda.
‘Precarious moment’
Transition officials said the plan will be a rescue package that will be followed by another recovery package in the coming weeks.
“We are in a very precarious moment for our economy,” said one of the officials.
The aid package includes $ 415 billion to bolster the response to the virus and the launch of COVID-19 vaccines. [File:Yuki Iwamura/Reuters]
The plan would extend moratoriums on foreclosures and evictions until September and include funds for rental assistance and utilities.
The package includes an increase in the national minimum wage to $ 15 an hour and assistance to combat hunger.
Funds related to coronavirus relief will go toward a national vaccine program, testing, investments for workers to conduct vaccine outreach and contact tracing activities, and money for states.
The Democratic president-elect said last week that the stimulus package would be “in the trillions of dollars” and argued that higher spending early on would reduce the long-term economic damage from the shutdowns caused by the pandemic.
He also said there would be “billions of dollars” to speed up vaccine distribution, along with money to help reopen schools and for state and local governments to avoid laying off teachers, police and healthcare workers.
The pandemic-related closures and restrictions have cost millions of jobs in the United States.
The Biden plan, if enacted, would give the economy more time to close the period until vaccine distribution allows for a broader resumption of economic activity.
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