The House confirms $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill, now it heads to Biden’s desk
The American Rescue Plan Act saw several revisions in the Senate, requiring it to go back through the House one final time.
The number one priority for the Biden administration since entering the White House on Jan. 20 has entered its final stretch.
The American Rescue Plan Act — more popularly known as President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill — was confirmed again by the House of Representatives on March 10.
Now the bill will go to Biden’s desk for a final signing into law, and Americans can finally benefit from the long-promised $1,400 stimulus checks among other major funding boosts
It comes three days after the Senate confirmed a revised version of the bill. The initial version of the bill was passed out of the House in the early morning of Saturday, Feb. 27.
After the Senate passage, it needed to go back to the House because of the changes made for a final confirmation vote before landing to President Joe Biden’s desk.
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In addition to the $1,400 direct stimulus checks that will go directly in Americans’ pockets (singles making less than $80,000/yr. and couples making less than $160,000), the bill also provides the following major boosts:
- Extends weekly federal unemployment payments of $300 to Sept. 6.
- Expands the child tax credit for one year.
- Provides $20 billion for COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing and $50 billion to testing and contact tracing.
- $25 billion for rental assistance.
- $350 billion for state, municipal and tribal governments.
- $30 billion for restaurants
An oft-overlooked part of the bill also provides a record amount of relief funding for Native American communities across the country at a little more than $30 billion.
With the final House passage, the administration looks to be slightly ahead of the schedule it set for itself when considering the timeline for negotiations over the relief bill in Congress.
Officials now hope the bill will land on Biden’s desk this Friday, March 12, two days before the set deadline of March 14, when the current period of federal unemployment was to run out.
At the news of the passage of the third major COVID-19 relief bill, President Biden took to Twitter with a simple message:
“Help is here,” he wrote.
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