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WILMINGTON, Delaware: President-elect Joe Biden on Thursday outlined a proposed $ 1.9 trillion stimulus package, saying bold investment was needed to jumpstart the economy and accelerate the distribution of vaccines to control the coronavirus.
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 COVID-19 response and economic recovery.
“A crisis of profound human suffering is in sight and there is no time to lose,” Biden said in prime-time remarks from Delaware. “We have to act and we have to act now.”
The aid package includes US $ 415 billion to bolster the response to the virus and the launch of COVID-19 vaccines, about US $ 1 trillion in direct aid to households, and approximately US $ 440 billion for small businesses and communities particularly. affected by the pandemic.
The stimulus paychecks would be issued for US $ 1,400, in addition to the US $ 600 checks issued under the latest stimulus legislation from Congress. Supplemental unemployment insurance would also increase to $ 400 a week from $ 300 a week today and extend through September.
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 as of Thursday. .
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 opposed the price of such payments.
Biden will face similar hurdles with his proposals, which come on the heels of a $ 900 billion aid package that Congress approved in December.
But it will help him that his fellow Democrats will control both the House and the Senate. Chuck Schumer, who is poised to lead a narrow Democratic majority in the United States Senate, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that Biden’s package was “the right approach” and pledged to start working on legislation.
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.
Impeachment proceedings threaten to delay the start of Biden’s term, and Biden has encouraged lawmakers to handle the trial as he moves his agenda forward.
PRECARIOUS MOMENT
Transition officials said Biden’s plan will be a rescue package that will be followed up with another recovery package in the coming weeks.
The plan would extend moratoriums on foreclosures and evictions until September and include funds for rental assistance and utilities.
The president-elect also asked Congress to raise the minimum wage to $ 15 an hour, and the package will include assistance to fight hunger.
“I know what I just described is not cheap, but not doing it will cost us dearly,” Biden said, adding that economists, financial institutions and Wall Street banks supported the need for stimulus.
“By investing now, boldly, intelligently, with an unwavering focus on American workers and families, we will strengthen our economy, reduce inequality, and put our nation’s long-term finances on the most sustainable course.”
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.
“Vaccines offer so much hope … but the launch of the vaccine in the United States has been a dismal failure so far,” Biden said, adding that on Friday he would set out his plan to vaccinate 100 million Americans within 100 days. to take office.
“This will be one of the most challenging operational efforts we have ever undertaken as a nation. We will have to move heaven and earth to vaccinate more people.”
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.
US stock index futures turned shortly after Biden’s speech, the details of which emerged during Thursday’s trading session.
“It’s a piece of the overall puzzle,” said Jake Dollarhide, CEO of Longbow Asset Management in Tulsa, Oklahoma. “Close the gap to get restaurant workers, airline workers, and other employees back to work.”
(Reporting by Jeff Mason in Wilmington, Delaware, and Jarrett Renshaw in Philadelphia and Noel Randewich in San Francisco; Additional reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt, Dan Burns, and Simon Lewis; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Daniel Wallis)
