President Joe Biden signed one of the largest stimulus packages in American history into law on Thursday, pouring nearly $2 trillion into a wide-ranging effort to crush the coronavirus and bring the pandemic-ravaged U.S. economy back from the brink of disaster.
Appearing in the Oval Office with Vice President Kamala Harris, Biden said before signing the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan that the bill is about bringing immediate relief to the millions of people in the U.S. battered by the pandemic.
“This historic legislation is about rebuilding the backbone of this country, and giving people in this nation — working people, middle-class folks, people who built the country — a fighting chance,” Biden said during the brief signing ceremony. “That’s what the essence of it is.”
The president vowed to discuss the bill more at length during the first prime-time address of his presidency slated for 8 p.m. Eastern time Thursday to mark the one-year anniversary of coronavirus-related shutdowns in the U.S.
The measure, which passed both chambers of Congress without any Republican support, is the first major legislative victory for Biden, as his administration mounts a challenging bid to bring the pandemic to an end.
The most popular provision of the massive bill bankrolls $1,400 stimulus checks to individual taxpayers earning less than $75,000 per year, and $2,800 checks to couples earning less than $150,000.
But the bill also extends far beyond checks.
It includes hundreds of billions of dollars for coronavirus vaccination and testing efforts, school reopenings, budgetary relief for struggling state and local governments, rental assistance, food programs and aid for small and big businesses, from restaurants and music venues to airlines and transit agencies.
The legislation also extends a $300-per-week federal unemployment aid bonus through September, and makes the first $10,200 earned in jobless benefits tax-free, providing a lifeline for the millions of Americans who remain out of work because of the pandemic.
Biden initially wasn’t supposed to sign the bill until Friday, but moved up the signing after congressional leaders wrapped up the bureaucratic enrollment process “more quickly than we anticipated,” White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.
Psaki said Biden will still hold a celebratory ceremony at the White House on Friday with Democratic congressional leaders.
With the bill now signed, the Treasury Department is expected to quickly get to work on processing stimulus checks and other aid provisions bankrolled by the legislation.
Taxpayers who have direct deposits set up with the Internal Revenue Service can likely expect to see stimulus checks arrive in their bank accounts by the end of the month.
