Biden set to make stop in Delco on Tuesday
President Joe Biden is coming to Delco.
On the heels of the passage of the $1.9 trillion COVID relief package that will put $1,400 checks into the hands of most Americans while also extending unemployment compensation by $300 a week, the president will make his first official visit and his first public appearance outside of the White House here in Delaware County Tuesday.
Exactly where and when he will visit has not been announced.
The American Rescue Plan, which the president signed into law Thursday, also increases the child tax credit for a year to $3,600 for children under 6 years -old and $3,000 for children between 6 and 17 years-old.
It also includes $350 billion for states, cities, tribal governments and U.S. territories, including $109 million for Delaware County;
$41 million for Upper Darby; and $31 million for Chester.
The plan injects $20 billion into vaccine manufacturing and distribution and another $50 billion for testing and contact tracing. Another $26 billion is allocated for emergency rental assistance and $10 billion is set aside in the plan for homeowner assistance.
There is also $30 billion in aid for restaurants.
“This legislation is about giving the backbone of this nation – the essential workers, the working people who built this country, the people who keep this country going – a fighting chance,” the president said following the bill’s final passage in the House.
The presidential visit also comes following criticism and concern about the COVID-19 vaccine rollout, particularly
here in southeastern Pennsylvania.
As reported by the Delaware County Daily Times on Feb. 21, the four suburban Philadelphia countiesBucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery counties - have about 22 percent of
Pennsylvania’s population, not including Philadelphia, but had been receiving less than 15 percent of the state’s allocation of COVID-19 vaccine. Philadelphia is a separate vaccine distribution from the rest of the state.
On Monday, officials from these four suburban counties issued a statement following a one-hour meeting Sunday with Pennsylvania Acting Secretary of Health Alison Beam.
“There remains a lack of transparency on the total doses that have come to our counties from every source,” they wrote in their statement. “Therefore, we have no way to assess how the data presented to us today was calculated, and how those calculations have been used to determine the number of doses that have been allocated to our four counties ... Additionally, we were not given any indication of the plan to make up acknowledged shortfalls to certain counties going forward.”
On Jan. 28, U.S. Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, D-5 of Swarthmore sent a letter to the president and to Acting U.S. Secretary of Health Norris Cochran, emphasizing the urgent need for rapid vaccine deployment.
“The absence of a strategic national plan, when combined with misinformation promulgated by the former administration, have created widespread frustration and anxiety as state and local governments try to stand up vaccine distribution, and individuals seek to protect themselves and their families,” she wrote, noting the former Trump administration’s overpromise of supplies.
She asked the president to invoke the Defense Production Act for vaccine production and distribution, which Biden did Feb. 5.
“With attention to increasing supply and proper allocation of vaccines, in addition to proven public health practices and messaging, I believe we will finally make headway in curbing the COVID-19 pandemic and moving both our national health and economy to recovery,” Scanlon wrote.