This historic legislation is designed to restore the backbone of this country and give the people of this country, the workers, the middle class, the people who built this country, a chance, Biden said in the Oval Office before signing the legislation. That’s the idea.
Congress on Wednesday approved the aid package, which was Biden’s first and most urgent legislative priority since he took office in January.
Biden was originally scheduled to sign the bill on Friday. White House Chief of Staff Ron Clain said the registration bill arrived at the White House Wednesday night, so @POTUS will sign it today – we want to get it done as soon as possible.
Clane added: On Friday, as planned, we will have a book signing with the conference leaders!
With Congress passing the bill faster than expected, the president will sign the U.S. financial bailout into law within the hour today. The @VP will join him in the Oval. And tomorrow, they will hold a book signing at the White House, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki tweeted.
The main elements of the plan are: Incentive payments of up to $1,400 per person, which would go to about 90 percent of households; a $300 federal supplement to weekly unemployment benefits; an increase in the child tax credit to $3,600 per child; and $350 billion in aid to state and local governments, as well as billions of dollars for elementary and secondary schools, to help students get back to school, help small businesses hit hard by the pandemic, and fund research, development, and drug distribution.
Later on Thursday, Biden will deliver his first primetime speech to the nation to mark the anniversary of the end of the Covid 19 pandemic.
Biden’s speech will cover the lives the pandemic has taken, the sacrifices the American people have made and, according to the White House official, outline future work to combat the pandemic. Biden will speak as an equal to the American people about what remains to be done to defeat the virus and will offer a strong vision of what is possible if we all come together, the official said.
As of Thursday afternoon, more than 529,400 Americans had died from Covid-19, according to Johns Hopkins University.
While the Biden administration is ramping up vaccination efforts across the country, officials stress that funding from Congress is needed to ensure that every American can be vaccinated. Biden’s Covid 19 aid package provides $14 billion for vaccine research, development, distribution and administration, as well as trust building.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 95.7 million doses of Covid 19 vaccine have been administered nationwide. There are three Covid 19 vaccines that have received urgent approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, namely Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson.
CNN’s Caitlan Collins, Claire Foran, Katie Lobosko and Tami Luhby contributed to this report.
