New Information on The $2000 Payments and Biden’s Emergency Economic Plan

 

 President-elect Joe Biden has proposed "direct cash payments" totaling $2,000 be given to Americans, including a third stimulus check of $1,400, in addition to the $600 payment issued last month, as part of his $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package. 

The latest proposal follows previous calls made to boost last month's $600 second stimulus check to $2,000.

The former vice president unveiled the details of his "American Rescue Plan" in a video address on Thursday. 

His proposed relief package is divided across three main categories, including $400 billion for COVID-19 vaccines and testing, which would see $50 billion go toward testing and $20 billion toward developing a national vaccine program. 

 Why Joe Biden's Stimulus Checks Will Be $1,400 and Not $2,000

"We have no time to waste when it comes to getting this virus under control and building our economy back better," Biden tweeted Thursday ahead of his video address.

He outlined the following as the "key elements of my American Rescue Plan," in a subsequent tweet Thursday: 

Here we look at the key elements outlined by Biden for his proposed COVID-19 relief package.

Direct cash payments

The proposed third stimulus checks would allow some adult dependents, such as children over 17 years of age, who were left out of the first and second round of checks to receive payment in the third round.

The spouses of undocumented immigrants who do not have Social Security Numbers and were left out in the first round would also be eligible for payment in the third round.

Extended unemployment

Biden also called for raising federal unemployment benefits to $400 per week and extending the availability of the benefits through the end of September. 

Millions of jobless Americans are slated to lose their unemployment benefits in March under the latest legislation.

The former vice president also wants to tie the level of unemployment benefits to general economic variables, so that benefits would automatically rise with an increased unemployment rate seen across the country.

He also proposed raising the federal minimum wage level to $15 per hour.

Rent relief

Biden also proposed an extension of eviction and foreclosure delays through the end of September.

The federal eviction moratorium is currently due to expire at the end of the month. Biden's plan aims to extend the deadline to September 30 and allow those with federally-guaranteed mortgages to apply for forbearance until the same date.

In addition to the $25 billion provided last month, Biden aims to offer an additional $25 billion in rental assistance to members of low- and moderate-income households who lost their jobs amid the ongoing outbreak. 

He also proposed providing $5 billion to renters struggling to pay utility bills and $5 billion to states and localities to help them offer aid to those at risk of becoming homeless.

He also want to make the Child Tax Credit fully refundable for the year and raise the credit to $3,000 per child, with $3,600 for a child under the age of six.

Food assistance

Biden proposed extending the 15 percent increase in food stamp benefits, which was due to expire in June, through September. He also aims to provide another $3 billion to help women, infants and children buy food, as well as offer U.S. territories $1 billion towards nutrition aid.

The president-elect also proposed partnering with restaurants to help provide food to the needy as well as jobs to restaurant workers who have been laid-off.

Aid to small businesses

Biden wants to put $15 billion towards a new grant scheme for small business owners, which would be in addition to the existing Paycheck Protection Program, and provide grants to more than a million small businesses.

The former vice president proposed investing $35 million in non-profit financing programs to help make low-interest loans available and provide venture capital to entrepreneurs.

He also proposed offering a combined total of 14 weeks of paid sick leave and family medical leave for workers who are either sick or in quarantine or caring for a child whose school has been shut.

Biden proposed companies with less than 500 workers be reimbursed by the government for the full cost of providing the leave.

Keeping essential frontline workers on the job

Biden's plan to put $50 billion aside for COVID-19 testing would also be used to hire 100,000 public health workers, increasing the community health workforce nearly three-fold.

The funds would also go towards buying rapid tests, expanding lab capacity and helping schools offer regular testing to help support the reopening of schools.

He also proposed putting the $50 billion towards developing COVID-19 mitigation measures at long-term care facilities and prisons where outbreaks have been widely seen. 

 Whose to blame? COVID-19 or Trump’s management of it ? And now There are not enough Vaccines bought!

I think the President is partly to blame for the break in at the Capitol, but he shares that blame with many members,of Congress who encouraged violence on anyone who supported the President...to name a few. waters, Pelosi and VP elect Harris .they all encouraged violence..they are on video doing so..check it out. I am an independent who has voted for both Democratic and Republican candidates and have lived during the tenure of every President from FDR to Trump ..and I am ashamed of and disgusted by the purely partisan actions of our Congress, who have done nothing to support and unite our country and have turned Congress into an entity that thinks their sole function is INVESTIGATION rather than LEGISLATION. They have worked tirelessly for the past 4 years to undermine the present administration starting on inauguration day when 67 of them boycotted the swearing in..this set the tone for what the American taxpayer could expect for the next 4 years. Yes, Trump is rough around the edges, he often speaks before he thinks, he should stay off Twitter, he stretches the truth(every President has) he's got a big ego(every President has had one), the only difference between him and his predecessors is none of them were maligned or disrespected to the degree he was and is. The fact that he was elected should have been a wake up call for Congress that they were totally out of touch with the mood of the American people and,in my estimation still are ...

 

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