On January 14, 2021, President-elect Joe Biden unveiled the first step of an ambitious two-part package stimulus package with a total price tag of $1.9 trillion. Biden called on Congress to quickly approve $415 billion in emergency spending to scale up vaccinations, provide direct relief to families and businesses, and further support other efforts to combat the COVID-19 crisis. The “American Rescue Plan” would be the largest investment the federal government has made to address the public health efforts to combat the pandemic. The measure will more than double the money for vaccine procurement than what was passed in the December omnibus coronavirus relief bill.
The President-elect wants bipartisan support for his COVID relief plan and is expected to pass the first proposal through "regular order," which would require 60 votes in the Senate. For the second proposal, a much-larger stimulus package which will focus on infrastructure, Biden will use a procedural process known as "budget reconciliation," requiring a simple majority vote in a very polarized Congress with very slim margins. If Democrats are unable to get Republican support on the coronavirus relief, they will likely resort to using reconciliation for passage of both proposals. Regardless of the actual path, we see both pieces of Biden’s stimulus being enacted in 2021 now that Democrats control both chambers of Congress and the White House.
The American Rescue Plan includes:
Authored by Ivan Zapien, Shelley Castle and Kolo Rathurn
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