Tag: Biden American Rescue Plan

COVID-19 recession: One of America’s deepest downturns was also its shortest after bailout-driven bounceback

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Thanks to a roaring economy, plunging joblessness and a consumer spending spree, it probably won’t come as a surprise that the COVID-19 recession is officially over.

We didn’t know this, formally, however, until July 19, 2021, when a group of America’s top economists determined that the pandemic recession ended two months after it began, making it the shortest downturn on record.

As an economist who has written a macroeconomics textbook, I was eagerly waiting to know the official dates. This is in part because I recently asked my Boston University MBA students to make guesses, and we all wanted to know who was closest to the mark. While many of my students ended up nailing it, I was off by a month. Continue reading.

What you need to know about the new monthly child tax credit payments

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Millions of families will start to receive monthly payments from the IRS on Thursday, following the enactment of President Biden’s coronavirus relief law that included an expansion of the child tax credit.

The $1.9 trillion relief measure from March increases the credit amount for 2021 and directs the IRS to make periodic advance payments of the credit through the end of the year so that families receive funds in installments rather than in a lump sum when they file their tax returns in 2022.

Democrats say the expanded tax credit will help to substantially reduce child poverty, and the monthly payments will help families cover important expenses as they occur. Many Democratic lawmakers want to pass legislation later this year to make the one-year expansion of the credit permanent. Continue reading.

DeSantis Took $9 Billion From Biden’s COVID Relief Bill He Slammed

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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has been a vehement critic of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, which the far-right Republican and ally of former President Donald Trump has slammed as “Washington as its worst.” But Steve Benen, in an op-ed published by MSNBC’s website on June 3, stresses that there is a major problem with DeSantis “railing against” that bill: his willingness to accept almost $9 billion in Rescue Plan funds from the federal government.

Benen explains, “Yesterday, as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed his state’s budget, there were plenty of smiles, with the governor announcing $1,000 bonuses for teachers, principals and first responders. ‘We’re proud that we got the bonuses through,’ the Republican boasted. There was a detail, however, that DeSantis didn’t mention.”

That detail, Benen adds, is how much the Florida budget relies on federal funds from the Rescue Plan. On June 2, Politico‘s Matt Dixon reported that DeSantis “signed a $100 billion state budget bolstered by nearly $9 billion in expected federal stimulus funds, putting the Republican governor in the awkward political position of building his budget on a wave of cash from President Joe Biden…. The newly signed budget, the biggest in state history…. was made much easier to cobble together because of the American Rescue Plan, the Biden Administration’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 stimulus package.” Continue reading.

Stimulus Checks Substantially Reduced Hardship, Study Shows

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Researchers found that sharp declines in food shortages, financial instability and anxiety coincided with the two most recent rounds of payments.

WASHINGTON — Julesa Webb resumed an old habit: serving her children three meals a day. Corrine Young paid the water bill and stopped bathing at her neighbor’s apartment. Chenetta Ray cried, thanked Jesus and rushed to spend the money on a medical test to treat her cancer.

In offering most Americans two more rounds of stimulus checks in the past six months, totaling $2,000 a person, the federal government effectively conducted a huge experiment in safety net policy. Supporters said a quick, broad outpouring of cash would ease the economic hardships caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Skeptics called the policy wasteful and expensive.

The aid followed an earlier round of stimulus checks, sent a year ago, and the results are being scrutinized for lessons on how to help the needy in less extraordinary times. Continue reading.

Biden defends rescue package after disappointing jobs report

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President Biden on Friday defended his $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan after a disappointing jobs report, arguing that the new data prove the necessity of the legislation and that it would take more time for the economy to recover. 

“When we came into office, we knew we were facing a once-in-a-century pandemic and a once-in-a-generation economic crisis. And we knew this wouldn’t be a sprint, it would be a marathon,” Biden said in remarks from the East Room of the White House. 

“It was designed to help us over the course of a year. Not 60 days, a year,” he said of the coronavirus relief passed earlier this year. “We never thought after the first 60 days that everything would be fine.”  Continue reading.

Republicans promote pandemic relief they voted against

NEW YORK, NEW YORK — Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., said it pained her to vote against the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan.

But in the weeks that followed, the first-term Republican issued a news release celebrating more than $3.7 million from the package that went to community health centers in her district as one of her “achievements.” She said she prided herself on “bringing federal funding to the district and back into the pockets of taxpayers.”

Malliotakis is far from alone.

Every Republican in Congress voted against the sweeping pandemic relief bill that President Joe Biden signed into lawthree months ago. But since the early spring votes, Republicans from New York and Indiana to Texas and Washington state have promoted elements of the legislation they fought to defeat. Continue reading.

Why are Republicans touting parts of Biden’s covid relief plan?

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Not a single Republican lawmaker voted for the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, President Biden’s coronavirus relief package that doled out $1,400 checks for many Americans and provided aid to state and local governments, restaurants and businesses. The bill passed with only narrow majorities, each party stuck in its own corner.

Biden’s bill came just weeks after Congress had passed a coronavirus relief package under President Donald Trump, so many Republicans argued it was too much too soon. Of course, one cannot discount the idea that a change in presidents might have also had something to do with their votes.

Nevertheless, Republicans have been touting elements of the bill on Twitter and in news releases. Any big bill is going to have elements in it that might have, in other circumstances, won the support of lawmakers. Moreover, it might be worth letting constituents know about the potential largesse available from the federal government. Continue reading.

Rep. Phillips: Economic Impact Payments

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Hi Neighbors,

The American Rescue Plan recently authorized a third round of stimulus checks, or Economic Impact Payments (EIPs) to aid our economic recovery. No action is needed by the vast majority of taxpayers to receive their EIP, but I also recognize that the Internal Revenue Services (IRS) distribution of EIPs has not come without challenges. This has resulted in some eligible individuals missing one, two, or all three rounds of payments. That is why I want to provide you with accurate information about EIPs and the IRS’s solution to obtaining those missing payments:

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What Is An Economic Impact Payment?

The bipartisan law that passed in March 2021 authorized a new round of $1,400 economic impact payments (EIP). While millions of payments have already been sent, I am hearing from folks that may have not received theirs. 

If you didn’t receive your earlier $1,200 or $600 payment from 2020, or have not yet received the $1,400 from 2021, you may still be eligible. Below you will find information about how you can get yours, and what kind of help may be available. 

Continue reading “Rep. Phillips: Economic Impact Payments”

How Biden stimulus bill will target homelessness

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The president wants to get 130,000 people off the street in the next 12 to 18 months.

Housing Secretary Marcia L. Fudge on Thursday unveiled nearly $5 billion in new grants to states and local governments across the country for rental assistance, the development of affordable housing and other services to help people experiencing or on the verge of homelessness.

The infusion of money to reduce homelessness, part of the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package that President Biden signed last month, is the latest example of how the administration is using the American Rescue Plan to enact a sweeping anti-poverty agenda amid the pandemic.

“Let me be clear,” Fudge said. “These funds could not come at a more critical time.” Continue reading.

GOP voters received more news about Dr. Seuss than massive COVID-19 relief bill, poll finds

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Republican voters report receiving more information from conservative media about Dr. Seuss than the COVID-19 relief bill.

Dan Pfeiffer argued on Tuesday that it’s not an accident that conservatives in the media are spoon-feeding their viewers and readers outrage about the six Dr. Seuss books that are no longer being printed due to racially insensitive material.

“The Republican plan to make 2022 about wokeness run amok is less stupid (and even more cynical) than it sounds,” Pfeiffer explained. “The Cancel Culture crusade is not just the province of the blowhards on Fox News. The Republican Party leadership is making it a central part of their strategy.” Continue reading.