WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion plan to help the US economy recover from the Covid-19 pandemic is set to clear a final legislative hurdle when the House of Representatives votes on the measure Tuesday.
It is the third major spending package to counter the pandemic, and the first since Biden took office in January with his Democrats narrowly in control of both houses of Congress.
Here are the main provisions of the bill, dubbed the American Rescue Plan: As with the CARES Act passed last March and the $900 billion follow-up measure enacted in December, Biden’s proposal will pay for stimulus checks to be sent to American taxpayers, this time amounting to as much as $1,400 per person.
Including this was a priority for Biden, who promised voters in Georgia that he would prioritize the checks if they elected Democratic senators and gave the party control of the chamber.
The checks will have limits: people making more than $80,000 a year are ineligible, as are couples making more than $160,000. Children and dependents will be eligible for $1,400 each.
The checks will cost about $400 billion in total, according to The Washington Post.
Unemployment aid: The last aid package enacted in December expanded unemployment payments by $300 a week, and extended them through March 14, a deadline that looms as the bill nears passage and awaits the president’s signature.
Democrats had pushed for more, but after a last-minute stand-off involving a moderate Democratic lawmaker, the Senate agreed to keep the payments at the same amount and extend them through September 6.
Addressing poverty: The Covid-19 pandemic caused mass layoffs starting last March, but poverty actually decreased after Congress authorized the $2.2 trillion CARES Act spending package, its first measure expanding the unemployment safety net and sending out stimulus checks.
Data in the months since has shown poverty creeping back up, hitting 11.3 percent in January, according to the University of Chicago and the University of Notre Dame.
Biden’s plan specifically targets poor Americans by expanding the Child Tax Credit, one of the main programs offering relief.
The amount refundable to taxpayers is raised to $3,600 for children under the age of six, and to $3,000 for children between the ages of six and 17.
The Earned Income Tax Credit benefiting poor workers is also increased, an eligibility expanded.

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