/Biden to announce vaccination plan, economic rescue package in evening address

Biden to announce vaccination plan, economic rescue package in evening address

His plan is expected to include the $2,000 relief payments he’s proposed.

In an address Thursday night, President-elect Joe Biden will announce his vaccination and economic rescue legislative package amid the continued COVID-19 pandemic, expected to the first major legislative push Biden will undertake when he assumes office next Wednesday.

The package is expected to lay out Biden’s plans to fund vaccinations across the country, and provide direct relief to families and communities struggling amid the economic downturn caused by the pandemic that has afflicted the country for nearly a year.

“At this moment, the president-elect feels we need to move aggressively on both rescue and recovery,” Brian Deese, Biden’s top economic adviser in the incoming administration said during an event with Reuters Wednesday.

“I think what you can expect to hear from the president-elect tomorrow night is the case for why we need action fast. We action to support his plan for beating back the pandemic, for national vaccinations effort, for testing, contact tracing and a plan to resource sufficiently our efforts so that we can get the majority of schools reopened,” he continued.

Biden’s team has also briefed some in Congress on the proposal, stressing his desire for both parties to move his proposals quickly after he becomes president.

The plan is expected to include the $2,000 relief checks Biden previously called on Congress to pass to provide immediate relief to struggling families, though families who received $600 in the last stimulus plan passed in December would see that total subtracted from their additional relief.

Biden could also seek to extend the $300 federal weekly unemployment benefits passed in the latest COVID stimulus bill, and include a child tax credit expansion in his proposal.

According to Democrats briefed on the plan, Biden is hoping to work with Republicans to pass the plan, rather than attempt to use the budget reconciliation process that would require only a simple majority in the Senate to pass the measure.

While Biden has suggested that the cost of the plan would be in the “trillions,” Biden’s team is not expected to attach specific funding numbers to elements of the proposal, and hopes to leave Democrats in both chambers with room to draft legislation and negotiate with Republicans in Congress.

Original Source