President Joe Biden officially signed the American Rescue Plan into law on Thursday afternoon, marking the official enactment of the $1.9 trillion stimulus bill and his first major legislative initiative one day ahead of schedule.
The bill, Biden’s first major legislative initiative, provides hundreds of billions of dollars for states and local governments, sends individual $1,400 relief checks to the majority of Americans, and extends a $300 boost to unemployment benefits until early September. The plan also provides $28.6 billion for restaurants, $50 billion for COVID-19 testing and contact tracing, and $15 billion for vaccine distribution, reports the Associated Press.
“This historic legislation is about rebuilding the backbone of this country, and giving people in this nation — working people, middle-class folks, people who built this country — a fighting chance,” remarked Biden during a signing in the Oval Office.
Biden made similar remarks Wednesday in a written statement, released by the White House, that referred to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) as “the finest and most capable speaker in the history of our nation.” Biden also said his legislation was supported by members of the general American public, including some Republicans.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), however, said Wednesday that the bill would be more unpopular if Americans learned more about the specifics of what was included in it, such as language that allows San Francisco to eliminate the vast majority of its projected budget deficit. “And they won’t have to wait until 2023 like the schools have to to get their money, they’ll get their money now,” McCarthy said Thursday.
“The only bipartisan vote here was against it,” he remarked.
One Democrat, Congressman Jared Golden of Maine, voted against the legislation.
“Borrowing and spending hundreds of billions more in excess of meeting the most urgent needs poses a risk to both our economic recovery and the priorities I would like to work with the Biden Administration to achieve, like rebuilding our nation’s infrastructure and fixing our broken and unaffordable healthcare system,” said Golden.
The $1.9 trillion stimulus includes provisions for major initiatives that were passed through legislation, such as unemployment insurance booster checks and direct checks to many Americans. As The Daily Wire previously reported, “under the new direct checks rules, individuals earning less than $75,000 per year will receive a $1,400 direct check, as will couples earning less than $150,000 per year. But under the expedited phase-out rules, individuals earning more than $80,000 will no longer qualify for partial checks, and neither will couples earning more than $160,000,”