President Biden Signs $1.8 Trillion Federal Stimulus

    After a month of fierce debate on Capitol Hill as to what should be included in the American Rescue Plan, President Joe Biden’s signed his $1.8 trillion federal stimuli today at the White House at 1:30 pm.

    Republicans criticized the bill as providing too much money to local governments, being excessive in a way that was wasteful, and potentially causing inflation. In addition, of course, more government hand-outs today eventually means higher taxes and/or reduced spending in the future.

    The Democrats, however, see the bill as the key the country’s economic recovery from COVID.

    The federal stimulus, Mayor de Blasio said this morning at his press conference, called the bill “extraordinary” and “the biggest action taken by the federal government since the New Deal,” which President Franklin D. Roosevelt enacted in the 1930s to help the country recover economically from the Great Depression.

      “The stimulus will change all of our lives for the better,” the mayor said. “Stimulus equals recovery: That is the way to think about it. If we did not have the stimulus, we could not have a full recovery, but now it is here.”

     The mayor explained that the stimulus will provide almost $6 billion in direct local aid for New York City “helping us to overcome the massive revenue loss and to serve our people, keep our workforce strong, bring our city back.”

    In the city, how will that $6 billion be allocated?

   The mayor mentioned the needed funds will go to the MTA, vaccines, schools, restaurants, and $1,400 checks for individuals. 

   Also in this stimulus is packed “a huge initiative to cut childhood poverty in half nationwide.”

   Majority Senate Leader Chuck Schumer, (D), whom the mayor thanked for spearheading the bill and bringing it to passage, said, “What I have to say to New Yorkers is, ‘Help is on the way.’

   “People will get their $1,400 checks. [Parents with] young kids will get more: $3,000 and $3,600.”

(Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz)