WASHINGTON (AP) – Let’s start the sales momentum.
President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and their spouses are opening an ambitious country tour this week to highlight the benefits of their $ 1.9 trillion plan. to defeat the coronavirus and boost the economy.
The road show – dubbed the “Help is Here” tour of the White House – begins on Monday with Harris heading to a COVID-19 vaccination site and a culinary academy in Las Vegas and First Lady Jill Biden visiting a school primary school in New Jersey.
The president will have more to say about the plan on Monday at the White House and plans to visit a small company in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday. He and Harris are due to appear together in Atlanta on Friday.
Harris will meet with small business owners in Denver on Tuesday. Wednesday sees Jill Biden in Concord, New Hampshire, and Harris’ husband, Doug Emhoff, in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Stops at vaccination sites, businesses, schools and more aim to educate the public about the different aspects of the giant American Rescue Plan and how it will help people get to the other side of the coronavirus pandemic.
Biden said President Barack Obama’s administration, of which Biden was vice president, has not adequately educated the public about the benefits of his economic recovery plan. He said he wants to do a better job of sales this time around the details of his first major legislative victory.
One of the main features of the plan is the direct payment of $ 1,400 to a single contributor, or $ 2,800 for a couple filing their taxes together, plus $ 1,400 per dependent – for a total of $ 5,600 for a couple with two children. Payments are phased out for those with higher incomes.
An extension of federal unemployment benefits will continue until September 6 at $ 300 a week. There are $ 350 billion for state, local and tribal governments, $ 130 billion for K-12 schools and about $ 50 billion to expand COVID-19 tests, among other measures.
Restaurants and bars that have been forced to close or limit the service will take advantage of a new multi-billion dollar subsidy program, and the plan also has tens of billions of dollars to help people who have not paid their rent and mortgages.
The bill passed Congress without any support from Republicans, despite polls that found widespread public support for the plan. Republicans argued that the bill was too expensive. Democrats provided the votes and Biden sanctioned it last week.
The “Help is Here” tour is taking Harris on his first domestic trip as vice president. She will be accompanied by her husband, the country’s first “second gentleman”, who plans to take a break for separate events in Las Vegas on Monday and New Mexico on Wednesday.
Since taking office, Harris has presided over oath ceremonies for members of the Biden Cabinet. She sided with the president in his speeches, made his own statements, spoke on the phone to several world leaders and made appearances in the Washington area, including at funeral services for power broker Vernon Jordan in Washington.
Harris also gave three Senate 50-50 tiebreakers in his role as President of the Senate.
Jill Biden will be joined by New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy on a tour on Monday at Samuel Smith Elementary School in Burlington, where she should talk about how the plan will help families and communities, and highlight the steps the school has taken to reopen.
The First Lady has maintained a robust agenda focused on education, military families and cancer research since taking up her new role. Earlier this month, she and Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona visited public schools in Connecticut and Pennsylvania that reopened during the pandemic.
Emhoff, an entertainment lawyer, also made a few appearances in the Washington area between his time as a Georgetown law professor. He plans to visit a food aid organization on Monday in Las Vegas and attend a listening session with the organization’s partners.
In addition to the president, vice president and their spouses, cabinet secretaries will also be on the tour. Hundreds of mayors and governors, including Republicans, are lining up to give interviews and discuss what the plan means for their communities.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg was scheduled on Monday to visit a UPS distribution center in Landover, Maryland, which also delivers vaccines in the Washington area.
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Associated Press writer Hope Yen contributed to this report.