President Joe Biden and Democratic congressional leaders patted each other on the back Friday as they celebrated the enactment of his signature $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package, which bankrolls stimulus checks, beefs-up unemployment benefits and a range of other aid for pandemic-scarred Americans.
Appearing in the White House Rose Garden for an unseasonably warm victory event, Biden told top Democrats that they helped him meet his 2020 campaign promise to rapidly bring relief to millions of Americans who have lost their jobs and loved ones to COVID-19.
“I served 36 years in the Senate and I know how hard it is to pass major consequential legislation, particularly when we only have such minor and small majorities in both houses,” Biden told the crowd in the Rose Garden, which included no Republicans.
“What you shepherded through Congress, not only meets the moment — it does even more,” the president said. “It’s historical and they call it transformational, and it really is.”
The massive rescue bill, which Biden signed into law Thursday, did not earn a single Republican vote in either chamber of Congress — a bitter reality for a president who has spent four decades in politics priding himself on his ability to achieve bipartisan consensus.
But Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., speaking before Biden, noted that the American Rescue Plan likely would never have passed Congress if Democrats didn’t reclaim control of the upper chamber thanks to the 2020 elections of Georgia Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock.
“We said if we gained the Senate, kept the House and elected the president, we would finally get things done, and get us out of this COVID crisis, and we are on the road to success,” Schumer said. “This is a wonderful day in America. This is the most significant piece of legislation, in so many ways, in decades, and we are just getting started.”
Stressing that the battle against COVID-19 is not over yet, Biden urged Americans to keep their face masks on and maintain six feet of social distancing, as his administration strives to crush the pandemic that has killed more than 530,000 people in the U.S.
“Conditions can change. The scientists have warned us about new variants of this virus and the devil is in the details of implementing this legislation,” Biden said.
With the relief bill now signed, the Treasury Department is expected to rapidly process it and pump the cash into the U.S. economy.
The $1,400 stimulus checks for individual taxpayers — and $2,800 checks for married couples — are rolling out as early as this weekend for those who have direct deposit set up with the Internal Revenue Service, Biden said.
“They’re going to be getting that check soon,” Biden said, noting that taxpayers will also receive an extra $1,400 for every qualified dependent, regardless of age.
The only prerequisite for getting a check is having a Social Security number and earning less than $75,000-per-year individually or less than $150,000 as a couple.
The new law also extends the $300-per-week federal unemployment supplement through September, and makes the first $10,200 earned in jobless aid tax free, giving a major helping hand to the millions who remain out of work because of the pandemic.
The American Rescue Plan also includes funding for coronavirus vaccination and testing efforts, aid to financially-wrecked state and local governments, and money for school reopenings, food programs, rental assistance, small businesses and major industries, among other provisions.
“Americans will see what we did here,” Vice President Kamala Harris said. “And they will feel the impact of this bill for generations to come.”
Also in the bill is a new tax credit that could allow low-income parents to collect $300 per month per child starting in July through the rest of the year. Many Democrats have expressed interest in trying to make that credit permanent.
“On behalf of the American people, for their children, for their health, for their education, for the economic security of their families — yes, this is a good day to be in the Rose Garden,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said.
