- President Joe Biden has promised to start sending stimulus checks “this month”.
- Senate Democrats have just approved Biden’s $ 1.9 trillion stimulus package.
- Individuals who earn up to $ 80,000 will receive $ 1,400 in direct payments.
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President Joe Biden announced on Saturday that Americans will begin receiving their stimulus checks this month after Senate Democrats approved their $ 1.9 trillion stimulus package.
“This plan is going to take door checks, starting this month, for the American people who are in desperate need of help, many of whom are lying in bed at night, looking up at the ceiling, wondering, ‘Am I going to lose my job if no? Am I going to lose my insurance? Am I going to lose my house? ‘”said Biden.
In his comments prepared at the White House, Biden noted that he had promised when he took office in January that “aid was on the way” and that approval of the stimulus package was an effort to keep that promise.
The package includes direct payments of $ 1,400 to individuals who earn up to $ 80,000 a year or couples who earn up to $ 160,000, according to their most recent tax records.
Although Democrats sought to raise the federal minimum wage to $ 15, they omitted it from the package after a senior Senate official said it would violate the rules of the reconciliation process.
In addition to checks, the stimulus package also provides $ 300 a week of unemployment benefits that will run until the summer, cash for distribution of vaccines COVID-19, a new child tax credit program designed to dramatically reduce child poverty and aid for small businesses and schools, as well as local and state governments.
“This country has suffered a lot for a long time,” said Biden on Saturday. “And everything in this package is designed to alleviate suffering and meet the most urgent needs in the nation and put us in a better position to prevail, starting with overcoming this virus and vaccinating the country.”
The stimulus package is expected to return to the House of Representatives, which is expected to approve the bill next week before Biden can sanction it.