Biden American Rescue Plan 2 , CD3 DFL

Billions in New Obamacare Subsidies Are Now Available on Healthcare.gov

Nearly everyone with a marketplace health plan can seek more financial help. Many uninsured Americans and people who buy their insurance elsewhere can also benefit.

Federal officials have reprogrammed Healthcare.gov, making new benefits available to tens of millions of Americans, weeks after Congress authorized spending billions on additional health law subsidies.

The Biden administration has doubled Obamacare’s advertising budget to get the word out, and will now spend $100 million telling Americans about newly affordable options.

Nearly everyone with an Affordable Care Act health plan can now qualify for increased financial help with premiums by going back to the website. Many Americans who buy their own insurance outside the A.C.A. marketplaces may also qualify for substantial help, and may benefit from reviewing options and switching to an eligible plan. Uninsured Americans also qualify. Continue reading.

GOP Congressman ‘Happy’ To Tout COVID-19 Stimulus Funds That He Voted Against

Rep. Madison Cawthorn, like every other Republican in Congress, opposed the American Rescue Plan.

Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.) sent out a tweet Tuesday touting some funds that community health centers in his district will be receiving ― even though he voted against the legislation that made the money possible.

Cawthorn wrote that he was “happy” to announce that North Carolina’s 11th District received a number of grants from the Department of Health and Human Services.

“Proud to see tax-payer dollars returned to NC-11,” he wrote in a follow-up tweet. Continue reading.

The Memo: Biden seeks a secret weapon — GOP voters

President Biden says he is winning over Republican voters even as he runs into a wall of GOP opposition on Capitol Hill.

The president has a strong case to make on the COVID-19 relief bill, which scores very highly in opinion polls. But whether Biden can replicate that level of support as he moves onto other issues is much more doubtful.

The White House believes he can. Continue reading.

Poll: Voters Credit Democrats, Not Republicans, On Rescue Plan

Since the passage of President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID relief package, Republicans have attempted to take credit for the legislation — despite the fact that not a single one voted for it.

Now, a new poll shows these efforts have overwhelmingly failed.

A poll this week by Invest in America shows that voters credit Biden and Democrats for the relief provided by the American Rescue Plan by a 49-point margin, with 48% of Republicans saying the same.

Other recent polls by Vox and Data for Progress show that 62 percent of voters were in favor of passing the expansive American Rescue Plan when contrasted with a smaller, more targeted relief proposed by GOP lawmakers — including nearly 50 percent of Republicans. Continue reading.

After Voting to Deliver Billions in Aid to Minnesota, Phillips to Visit Community Vaccination Site in Bloomington

Phillips will tour the Mall of America Community Vaccination Site as vaccine eligibility expands in Minnesota

BLOOMINGTON, MINNESOTA – Today, Rep. Dean Phillips (MN-03) will visit the Mall of America Community Vaccination Site as vaccine eligibility expands in Minnesota following American Rescue Plan distribution investments. Phillips will meet with local public health leaders and health care workers at the State-run site, which was created to expand vaccine access and improve equity. Minnesota’s vaccine administration is among the best in the nation, and after a record-setting weekend, nearly one-third of adults have received their first dose.

Earlier this month, Phillips helped pass the American Rescue Plan, a historic COVID-19 relief bill that delivered $4.9 billion in aid to the state of Minnesota and is supported by a wide majority of Americans. According to state officials, more than $850 million will go towards public health, including $85 million to expand and improve COVID-19 vaccine distribution and administration. With new funding and additional vaccine supply forthcoming, Gov. Walz expanded eligibility to include all Minnesotans age 16 or older beginning March 30.

Republicans put themselves in a box — after driving the nation into a ditch

Why, at this time of desperate need, does the Republican leadership refuse to put its fingerprints on legislation that relieves the American people’s suffering? Not one Republican in the entire US Congress voted for the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA).

If you scrolled through right-wing social media last weekend, you’d see the top news was not the increased pace of vaccination or the arrival of $1,400 stimmies. It was Joe Biden’s triple-stumble on the staircase to Air Force One. A particularly creative meme tweeted out by Donald Trump, Jr. interspersed video of the former president hitting golf balls, which then appeared to hit Biden in the head and knock him down.

United behind obstructionism so extreme it overwhelmed the need to pass legislation when the GOP controlled both chambers of the Congress, Biden tripping and falling now counts as a Republican win. In fact, over the four years of the Trump administration, exactly one major piece of legislation was passed, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, a big unwrapped present to corporations, but not to the American people. Instead, congressional Republicans have unified behind the bizarre theory that Congress must deliver cultural criticism and mean jokes about their colleagues. Continue reading.

Chris Wallace nails Tom Cotton for voting record under Trump after he opposes Biden relief checks

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) on Sunday defended his decision to vote against a stimulus bill that had similar provisions to bills he supported under former President Donald Trump.

During an interview on Fox News Sunday, host Chris Wallace called out Cotton after he said that he had opposed the bill that was signed by President Joe Biden because “prisoners” could get relief checks.

Wallace noted that Cotton voted for similar COVID-19 relief bills that were signed Trump. Continue reading.

GOP picks fight over states’ rights in coronavirus relief

Republicans are aiming to stir up a legal battle over Biden’s pandemic relief bill, targeting a provision in the American Rescue Plan they say is an unconstitutional infringement on states’ ability to devise their own tax policies.

A provision in the bill that forbids states from using billions in aid to offset any tax cuts they might implement has sparked a backlash from Republican lawmakers and state attorneys general. Their criticisms could lay the groundwork for a court battle over states’ rights and government overreach akin to the Supreme Court case over the fate of ObamaCare.

This time, the GOP appears to be framing the issue as the Biden administration getting in the way of state and local leaders cutting taxes for their own residents. Continue reading.

Stimulus drives up consumer confidence

Stimulus checks boost confidence, especially at lower end — In the “happy headlines for the White House” department, the $1,400 checks and direct deposits now showing up in mailboxes and bank accounts across America are driving up consumer confidence once again.

Per new data from Morning Consult out this morning: “U.S. consumer confidence increased more rapidly following the signing of the American Rescue Plan than it did following the signing of the two prior coronavirus stimulus bills.

“Over the past five days, confidence among low-and middle-income consumers increased more sharply than confidence among high-income consumers, signaling that the third stimulus bill may help counterbalance the K-shaped recovery in confidence and spending.” Continue reading.

The IRS has sent out 90 million stimulus payments. Here’s how to check when yours will arrive.

Got a prepaid debit card with your stimulus payment? You can avoid fees when you access the money.

The Internal Revenue Service told financial institutions to expect roughly 90 million direct deposits amounting to $242.2 billion on March 17 in the initial distribution of the American Rescue Plan stimulus payments, according to a banking industry group.

Following the deposits, the IRS mailed an additional 150,000 checks amounting to $442 million, with a pay date of March 19, according to the Independent Community Bankers of America, based on a briefing from the IRS.

“Additional batches of payments will be sent in the coming weeks with the vast majority sent by direct deposit,” the group said in an online update to banking members. “Payments will also be sent through the mail as a check or debit card.” Continue reading.

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