President-elect Joe Biden's Covid plan was revealed on Thursday. The $1.9 trillion package is called the American Rescue Plan.
Biden's Covid plan features several familiar stimulus measures, with the additional fiscal support designed to help families and businesses until the coronavirus vaccine is widely available.
The plan calls for direct payments of $1,400 to most Americans, increased per-week unemployment benefit to $400, $15 per hour minimum wage, and extension of eviction and foreclosure moratoriums.
The Covid stimulus package also includes $350 billion in state and local government aid; $170 billion for K-12 schools and institutions of higher education; $50 billion toward Covid-19 testing; $20 billion toward a national vaccine program in partnership with states, localities, and tribes; making the Child Tax Credit refundable for the year; and increasing the credit to $3,000 per child ($3,600 for a child under age 6).
Biden's Covid plan is the first of two major spending initiatives the new president aims to implement in the first few months of his presidency, according to his officials.
Meanwhile, the second bill, which is expected in February, will address Biden's longer-term goals. These include job creation, infrastructure, climate change, and advancing racial equity.
Senior Biden officials said that the president-elect supports $10,000 in student debt forgiveness. Biden will officially announce the plan during a speech at 7:15 p.m. ET from Wilmington, Delaware.
Democratic leaders commended the measure, with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and incoming Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer releasing a joint statement.
“With the COVID-rescue package the President-elect announced today, he is moving swiftly to deliver that help and to meet the needs of the American people. House and Senate Democrats express gratitude toward and look forward to working with the President-elect on the rescue plan,” the two said in a press release.
“The emergency relief framework announced by the incoming Biden-Harris administration tonight is the right approach,” the two officials added. “It shows that Democrats will finally have a partner at the White House that understands the need to take swift action to address the needs of struggling communities.”
Biden officials remain positive that the rescue package has enough in it to make lawmakers across the political spectrum agree and that the president-elect has been consulting with congressional allies the past weeks.
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., expressed his support for Biden’s spending plans.
“All across our nation, people are looking for answers and demanding accountability, but they are also desperate for hope: hope that political leaders in Washington can begin taking steps to heal our deeply divided nation,” Rubio wrote in a letter to Biden dated Tuesday.
“It would send a powerful message to the American people if, on the first day of your presidency, you called on the House and Senate to send you legislation to increase the direct economic impact payments to Americans struggling due to the pandemic from $600 to $2,000,” he added.
The Labor Department’s monthly jobs report showed that employers let go of 140,000 jobs in December.
“I think we’re going to see the existing stimulus program mitigate that, but it’s not going to give us the bounce we need to carry through until the vaccine has really brought the virus under control,” said Brad McMillan, chief investment officer at Commonwealth Financial Network.
“The question is: How fast are we going to bounce back? If you assume we’re going to bounce back without more stimulus, that’s basically the case for no more stimulus,” he said. “Personally, I’m not convinced that’s the case. And even if it is the case, it will certainly be much faster and more humane if we get more stimulus.”
