Biden Reveals Enormous COVID Relief Bill Days Ahead of Inauguration

One of the last major battles of President Trump’s presidency, (at least in the political sense), revolved around the need for further coronavirus stimulus relief for the nation.

Congressional Democrats  did their fair share of bickering on the subject over the last several months, surely, but a last-minute interjection by President Trump really kicked things into high gear.  The Commander in Chief, (along with a majority of Congress), wanted to replace the $600 direct payments with $2,000 direct payments.  Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell pushed back, and the rest is history.

Now, as Joe Biden looks to take office in less than a week, a new, massive COVID relief bill could be on the horizon.

The proposal, called the American Rescue Plan, includes several familiar stimulus measures in the hope the additional fiscal support will sustain U.S. families and firms until the Covid-19 vaccine is widely available.

Here’s what Biden calls for:

• Direct payments of $1,400 to most Americans, bringing the total relief to $2,000, including December’s $600 payments
• Increasing the federal, per-week unemployment benefit to $400 and extending it through the end of September
• Increasing the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour
• Extending the eviction and foreclosure moratoriums until the end of September
• $350 billion in state and local government aid
• $170 billion for K-12 schools and institutions of higher education
• $50 billion toward Covid-19 testing
• $20 billion toward a national vaccine program in partnership with states, localities and tribes
• Making the Child Tax Credit fully refundable for the year and increasing the credit to $3,000 per child ($3,600 for a child under age 6)

The total price tag for the bill stands at $1.9 trillion, which is far more than congressional Republicans were willing to spend during earlier negotiations.

But, now that Biden will have a majority in the House and the Senate, who knows what sort of legislate onslaught awaits.