WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden, who was a year of loss and disruption, on Thursday signed a $ 1.9 billion relief package that he says will help the US defeat the coronavirus and restore the economy. make. Some checks to Americans may start arriving this weekend.
The signing took place hours before Biden delivered its first broadcast period since taking office. He intends to send the nation to a hunger-for-sentiment – hope – while marking one year since the onset of the pandemic that killed more than 530,000 Americans.
“This historic piece of legislation is about rebuilding the backbone of this country,” Biden said when he signed the bill in the Oval Office.
Most notable to many Americans are provisions that provide direct payments of up to $ 1,400, some of which could start landing in bank accounts this weekend, and the extension of $ 300 weekly emergency unemployment benefits to early September. Extended tax credits for children, childcare and family leave are also included over the next year – some credits indicated by the Democrats that they want to make permanent, plus spending on tenants, nutrition programs and accounts for people.
The House on Wednesday approved the final package by an almost party 220-211 vote, seven weeks after Biden entered the White House and four days after the Senate passed the bill. Republicans in both chambers unanimously opposed the legislation, characterizing it as inflated, crammed with liberal policies and without seeing the crises subside.
Biden originally planned to sign the bill on Friday, but it arrived at the White House faster than expected.
“We want to move as fast as possible,” tweeted Ron Klain, White House chief of staff. He added: “We will hold our celebration of the signing with congressional leaders on Friday, as planned!”
Biden said in a preview of his remarks on Thursday night that he “will talk about what we have been through as a nation over the past year, but more importantly, I will talk about what comes next.”
Biden’s challenge is to honor the sacrifices of Americans over the past year, while being encouraged to remain vigilant, despite ‘virus fatigue’ and increasing impatience to resume normal activities, given the provocative promise of vaccinations. He will mourn over the one-year anniversary of the World Health Organization’s statement on a pandemic over the dead, but also radiate optimism about the future.
“This is a chance for him to really shine in everyone’s living rooms and to be both the mourner and to explain how he is leading the country out of this,” said Rice University presidential historian and professor Douglas Brinkley. said.
“This is a great moment,” Brinkley added. “He must overcome hearts and minds for people to remain masked and vaccinated, but he must also realize that the federal government has not forgotten you after the last year.”
Biden’s remarks in the East Room are central to an important week for the president, as he addresses the defining challenge of his term: shepherding the nation through the twins of the public health and economic storms that the virus brings.
On Monday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued initial guidelines on how vaccinated people can resume normal activities. Congress on Wednesday approved the $ 1.9 billion US bailout plan to mitigate the economic impact on tens of millions of people. And the country was fast on its way to administering its 100 millionth dose of vaccination this Thursday.
Biden said he would focus his remarks on what his government would deliver in the coming months, but also reiterated his call on Americans to continue to distance themselves socially and wear face masks to speed up the end of the pandemic.
“I am going to start the next phase of the COVID response and explain what we as a government are going to do and what we will ask of the American people,” he said.
He added: ‘There is light at the end of this dark tunnel of the past year. There is real reason for hope. ”
Almost exactly a year ago, President Donald Trump addressed the country to mark the WTO’s declaration of a global pandemic. He announced travel restrictions and called on Americans to practice good hygiene, but he expressed little concern about the impending disaster. It was later revealed that Trump admits that he deliberately “downplayed” the threat of the virus.
For Biden, who promised to vote with the American public after the alternative reality of Trump’s virus talks, it is essential to find the right balance “between optimism and sadness”, said Princeton history professor and presidential expert Julian Zelizer .
“In general, the country likes optimism, and at this particular moment they are desperate for optimism, but you can not risk a ‘Mission Accomplished’ moment,” he said, warning against any premature statement that the threat was over. is.
Fifty days after his presidency, Biden experienced a honeymoon that his predecessor had never enjoyed. However, public sentiment remains stubbornly polarized and it seems that fewer people among his critics want to say that they will give him a chance than was the case with previous presidents. Overall, he earned strong points for dealing with the pandemic.
According to a poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research released last week, 70% of Americans support the Democratic president’s handling of the virus response, including 44% of Republicans.
The White House hopes that as Biden takes on the role of cheerleader for the virus relief package, the elements of the $ 1.9 billion bill that is popular with Republicans will further increase his support.
Brinkley said Biden’s decision to deliver a speech directly to the country before delivering the traditional presidential speech at a joint sitting of Congress suggests that it was just as much an ‘introduction’ of the president and his government to the American people is like a status report. on his first 50 days in office.
Presidential speeches to Congress “tend to be a series of sound bites,” Brinkley said. “In this way, he can state his case directly.”
The premium speech is in many ways an anachronism, better suited to an era when Americans had far fewer television options and in which a presidential speech could reformulate the national discourse.
The fragmented media landscape makes it harder for Biden to reach people, Zelizer said, but that may not matter.
“Everything he does is a setback,” Zelizer said. “It’s part of his effort to get back to normal after the last four years.”