President Biden on Friday led a celebration at the Rose Garden of his $ 1.9 trillion COVID-19 stimulus project – but it did not include Republicans and, again, he did not answer questions from reporters.
Biden started his public relations campaign to promote the project, which was approved only with Democratic votes after signing it on Thursday, and he returned to many of the themes of his Thursday night prime time speech.
“This is not over, conditions can change. We are not done yet … Scientists have warned us about new variants of this virus, and the devil is in the details of implementing this legislation, ”said Biden.
The president was accompanied by the Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer (D-NY), House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California), and a socially distant group from other Democratic congressmen.
Biden insisted that Republican voters support his first major legislative achievement as president, although he did not win Republican votes when Democrats forced him into Congress under budget reconciliation rules.
“What you conducted in Congress is not only in line with the moment. It does even more. It is historical and they call it transformational. And it really is, ”said Biden.
“We are showing that it is possible to achieve big and important things.”
The bill gives $ 1,400 stimulus checks to Americans earning less than $ 75,000 a year and extends a $ 300 weekly unemployment supplement until September 6.
“For a typical family of four, middle class family, husband and wife working for $ 110,000 – here, that means a check for $ 5,600 that they will receive. 85 percent of families in America will receive this money, ”said Biden.
The package contains $ 350 billion in state and local aid and $ 75 billion for COVID-19 vaccinations, tests and other pandemic medical supplies.
Some Republicans denounced the bill as “socialism”, but Biden responded with a blow to Republican fiscal policies in his comments.
“The paradigm changes. For the first time in a long time, this bill puts workers in this country first. It is not hyperbole. It is a fact, ”said Biden.
“This is the first time that we have managed – since the Johnson administration and perhaps even before that – to start changing the paradigm. We have seen repeatedly that dripping does not work. “
Biden said “it is time for us to build an economy that grows from the bottom up and from the middle out”.
But Biden, who has not given a press conference since taking office more than 50 days ago, once again ignored a reporter’s shouted questions before returning to the White House. Later, when Biden left for Delaware, he ignored another question about the fate of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.
The stimulus bill grants $ 1,400 stimulus checks to adults who earn up to $ 75,000 a year, with lower amounts for those who earn less than $ 80,000. An extra check of $ 1,400 is granted for each dependent child, but in a change from previous stimulus checks, income limits apply to children’s checks as well.
Parents also earn a new annual tax credit of $ 3,000 to $ 3,600 per child on the account, up from $ 2,000 per child today.
The bill establishes 15 weeks of paid leave for federal workers, including US Post Office employees, for reasons related to COVID-19, including the care of children who do not have a school or daycare center.
It creates a new $ 25 billion grant program specifically for bars and restaurants that will make up for lost revenue and allows government reimbursement of health insurance premiums for people who remain on employer policies after losing their jobs.
It also offers more than $ 120 billion for K-12 schools, but the Congressional Budget Office estimates that more than 90% will not be spent in 2021 because funds approved for schools last year were not spent.
Republicans said the project is wasteful and can boost inflation and criticized Biden’s prime-time speech for claiming credit for the expansion of COVID-19 vaccines, not to mention that former President Donald Trump’s administration poured billions into research and development of successful vaccines.
Biden said at Rose Garden that he is concerned that people do not trust the government, implicitly beating his predecessor.
“Look, one of the things that worries me the most – and I think all of you too, especially those of us who have been around for 100 years like me – is that you’ve seen people lose confidence in the government, just lose confidence that we tell the truth, ”said Biden.