Tag: Biden American Rescue Plan

Stimulus checks could hit some bank accounts as soon as this weekend, White House says

A year into the pandemic, more than 18 million people are still receiving some form of unemployment benefit.

The next batch of stimulus checks will be deposited into some bank accounts this weekend, the White House said Thursday.

“People can expect to start seeing direct deposits hit their bank accounts as early as this weekend,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said at a news briefing after President Joe Biden signed the American Rescue Plan into law on Thursday afternoon.

Psaki said that the checks are “the first wave” and they will continue to flow over “the next several weeks.” Continue reading.

New Stimulus Package Brings Big Benefits to the Middle Class

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Be it child care or health care, an array of tax changes and subsidies makes the $1.9 trillion relief legislation more than a lifeline for the poor.

WASHINGTON — The economic relief plan that is headed to President Biden’s desk has been billed as the United States’ most ambitious antipoverty initiative in a generation. But inside the $1.9 trillion package, there are plenty of perks for the middle class, too.

Whether they are direct stimulus payments, an array of tax benefits or an expansion of the Affordable Care Act, the bill will bring a big economic lift to middle-income families. In some cases, those households will have weathered the pandemic relatively unscathed, and those who are concerned about the cost of the legislation have suggested that the definition of middle class has expanded to include families who are actually well-off.

An analysis by the Tax Policy Center published this week estimated that middle-income families, those making $51,000 to $91,000 per year, will see their after-tax income rise by 5.5 percent as a result of the tax changes and stimulus payments in the legislation. The increase for that income group is about twice as generous as what it received after the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Continue reading.

Poll: Americans Blame Republicans, Not Biden, For Partisan Divide On Relief

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Congressional Republicans’ effort to pin blame for the lack of bipartisanship over the American Rescue Plan on President Joe Biden has failed badly.

A Pew Research Center poll released on Tuesday found that 57 percent of Americans believe the Biden administration made a “good faith effort” to work with Republicans on the mammoth pandemic relief legislation. Forty percent said they did not believe the administration had made such an effort.

Among Democrats, the number of those polled who answered yes to the question was unsurprisingly high — 87 percent. Among Republicans, that figure was much lower, at just 23 percent. Continue reading.

Billions in aid from COVID-19 relief bill headed to Minnesota

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The COVID relief bill includes state and local aid, help for the hospitality and agriculture sectors. 

WASHINGTON – Minnesota’s state and local governments, its ailing hospitality industry, struggling small businesses and the agricultural sector will get a financial boost from the $1.9 trillion COVID relief package.

An estimated nearly $4.9 billion will flow to Minnesota governments, including almost $2.6 billion to the state and another $2.1 billion for cities, counties and other local governments.

“The impact of this bill is going to be seen and felt by people in Minnesota right away, and it’s going to make a big difference as they’re digging themselves out of what’s been a really terrible public health and economic crisis,” said Democratic U.S. Sen. Tina Smith in an interview. Continue reading.

Here’s what’s in the $1.9T COVID-19 relief package

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President Biden is on the precipice of the biggest legislative win so far in his time in office: the signing of a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package the House is expected to approve Wednesday.

The package is highlighted by the $1,400 direct payments to be sent to millions of households, an extension of unemployment benefits and funding for vaccine distribution.

But it includes much more than those provisions. Here’s a look at what else is in the bill. Continue reading.

DFL Party Statement on President Biden Signing the American Rescue Plan Into Law

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SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA – Today, President Joe Biden signed the American Rescue Plan, his $1.9 trillion COVID relief and stimulus bill, into law. The wide-ranging and incredibly popular bill contains numerous important measures to combatting COVID-19 and helping the American people build back better from the pandemic, including:

  • $1,400 relief checks for most Americans
  • Extended unemployment insurance of $300 per week through early September
  • Child tax credits of up to $3,600
  • More than $15 billion for vaccine distribution
  • Roughly $50 billion for COVID-19 testing and contact tracing
  • $130 billion to safely reopen schools
  • $350 billion in state and local aid

Every DFL member of Congress voted in favor of the American Rescue Plan and every Minnesota Republican voted against it. Republican opposition comes despite the bill’s tremendous popularity among voters across the political spectrum – 75% of American voters and 59% of Republican voters approve of the American Rescue Plan – and despite the roughly $1 billion in local government aid the bill will bring to Minnesota’s Republican-controlled congressional districts.

Continue reading “DFL Party Statement on President Biden Signing the American Rescue Plan Into Law”

Biden signs $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill

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President Biden signed the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act in the Oval Office on Thursday, one day earlier than originally scheduled.

The latest: White House press secretary Jen Psaki said at a briefing shortly after the signing that the first wave of direct deposit relief payments will begin hitting Americans’ bank accounts “as early as this weekend.”

Why it matters: The enactment of the massive coronavirus relief plan cements Biden’s first major legislative victory and comes exactly one year after the pandemic was declared by the World Health Organization. Continue reading.

White House: President Biden’s name will not appear on $1,400 stimulus payments

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The checks are a key part of the $1.9 trillion stimulus plan the House is expected to vote on Wednesday.

The White House said Tuesday that President Biden’s name would not appear on the $1,400 stimulus payments set to be sent out to millions of American families as part of the administration’s relief package, a reversal from the precedent set under President Trump.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters on Tuesday that the payments approved under Biden would instead by signed by a career official at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, an office within the Department of Treasury. The House is expected to vote on the $1.9 trillion stimulus plan as soon as Wednesday, putting it on course to be signed into law by Biden next week.

The decision marks a reversal from the Trump administration. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin included Trump’s signature on the memo line of the payments approved in March last year, as well as a gushing letter signed by Trump taking credit for the benefit. Continue reading.

Murderers, undocumented immigrants: Hyped-up claims about who’s getting stimulus checks

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“Dylann Roof murdered nine people. He’s on federal death row. He’ll be getting a $1,400 stimulus check as part of the Democrats’ ‘COVID relief’ bill.”

— Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), in a tweet, March 6

“With this bill, they’re going to people in prison, they’re going to people who are illegal immigrants.”

— Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), in an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” March 7

Every Senate bill that proceeds on a fast-track process known as reconciliation features a strange ritual called “vote-a-rama,” as lawmakers race through a number of votes on amendments. If you are in the minority, as Republicans are now, it’s a moment when you can offer finely tuned amendments that are destined to fail but will serve up red meat for voters in later elections.

These quotes are an example of this process in action, with Cotton tweeting a talking point just hours after the coronavirus stimulus bill was approved. Cotton isn’t shy about his intentions either. On March 8, he tweeted that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the Boston bomber, would also get benefits and declared, “Get ready for campaign ads.”

But for all the hype, there’s less to these claims than one might imagine — particularly because the previous stimulus bills passed last year under GOP control also did not bar payments to prisoners and the small subset of undocumented immigrants referenced by Barrasso. Continue reading.

House votes to send $1.9 trillion COVID relief package to Biden’s desk

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The House voted 220-211 on Wednesday to approve the Senate’s revised version of President Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package, sending the bill to Biden’s desk to be signed.

Why it matters: The passage of the “American Rescue Plan” is the first — and potentially defining — legislative victory of Biden’s presidency, marking a key milestone in his pledge to steer the U.S. out of the coronavirus crisis.

The big picture: The package is being touted by Democrats as one of the most consequential anti-poverty bills of the modern era, with the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center projecting that it will boost incomes for the poorest 20% of Americans by 20%. Continue reading.