Biden signs relief plan, and one year into outbreak, lays out steps to get the nation ‘closer to normal’
WASHINGTON — Marking a year of loss and disruption, President Joe Biden on Thursday signed into law the $1.9 trillion relief package that he said will help the U.S. defeat the coronavirus and nurse the economy back to health. Some checks to Americans could begin arriving this weekend.
Hours after the signing in the Oval Office, Biden used his first prime-time address as president to outline his plan to make all adults vaccine-eligible by May 1 and get the country “closer to normal” by the Fourth of July. He offered Americans fresh hope and appealed anew for their help.
Speaking in the White House East Room, Biden announced moves to speed vaccinations, including directing that states lift qualifications for vaccinations by May 1, and expand the number of places and categories of people who can give shots.
His aim: Let Americans gather at least in small groups for the Independence Day holiday.
Biden spoke on the anniversary of the declaration of the pandemic that has killed more than 530,000 Americans and upended the lives of countless more.
“While it was different for everyone, we all lost something,” Biden said, calling the past year “a collective suffering, a collective sacrifice.”
Biden announced that he is deploying an additional 4,000 active-duty troops to support vaccination efforts and will allow more people such as medical students, veterinarians and dentists to deliver shots. He is also directing more doses toward some 950 community health centers and up to 20,000 retail pharmacies, to make it easier for people to get vaccinated closer to their homes.
As supplies of the vaccines continue to increase, Biden announced that he will direct states and territories to make all adults eligible for vaccination by May 1. The U.S. is expecting delivery of enough doses for those 255 million adults by the end of that month, but the process of actually administering those doses will take time.
Even as he offered optimism, Biden made clear that the July 4 timetable requires cooperation from Americans to continue to wear face coverings, maintain social distancing and follow federal guidelines meant to slow the spread of the virus in the near term. He also called on them to roll up their sleeves to get vaccinated as soon as they’re eligible.
“This is a whole-of-country effort,” White House chief of staff Ron Klain told CNN. “The president’s deploying our entire government to do its part. The American people are going to have to do their part too.”
Earlier, after signing the coronavirus relief package into law, Biden said, “This historic legislation is about rebuilding the backbone of this country.”
Most noticeable to many Americans are provisions providing up to $1,400 in direct payments, some of which could begin landing in bank accounts this weekend, and extending $300 weekly emergency unemployment benefits into early September. Also included are expanded tax credits over the next year for children, child care and family leave — someof them credits that Democrats have signaled they’d like to make permanent — plus spending for renters, feeding programs and people’s utility bills.
The House gave final congressional approval to the sweeping package by a near party line 220-211 vote Wednesday, seven weeks after Biden entered the White House and four days after the Senate passed the bill.
Republicans in both chambers opposed the legislation unanimously, characterizing it as bloated, crammed with liberal policies and heedless of signs the crises are easing.
Biden originally planned to sign the bill Friday, but it arrived at the White House more quickly than anticipated.
“We want to move as fast as possible,” Klain tweeted, adding, “We will hold our celebration of the signing on Friday, as planned, with congressional leaders!”
In his prime-time address, Biden also condemned the violence Asian Americans have endured since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, saying “it is wrong, it is un-American and it must stop.”
Former President Donald Trump had repeatedly used xenophobic terms to refer to the virus that originated in China’s Wuhan province. Some critics contend that such language stoked the violence and verbal attacks.
Oneyear ago, Trump addressed the nation to mark the World Health Organization’s declaration of a pandemic. Heannounced travel restrictions and called for Americans to practice good hygiene but displayed little alarm about the forthcoming catastrophe. Trump, it was later revealed, acknowledged that he had been deliberately “playing down” the threat of the virus.
For Biden, who has promised to level with the American public after the alternate reality of Trump’s virus talk, it was imperative that he strike the correct balance “between optimism and grief,” said Princeton history professor and presidential scholar Julian Zelizer.
“Generally, the country likes optimism, and at this particular moment they’ re desperate for optimism, but you can’t risk a‘ Mission Accomplished’ moment,’” he said, warning against any premature declaration that the threat has been vanquished.
Fifty days into his presidency, Biden is experiencing a polling honeymoon that his predecessor never enjoyed. Yet public sentiment remains stubbornly polarized and fewer people among his critics seem willing to say they’ll give him a chance than was the case for earlier presidents. Overall, he has earned strong marks on his handling of the pandemic.
According to a poll from Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research released last week, 70% of Americans back the Democratic president’s handling of the virus response, including 44% of Republicans.
The White House hopes that as Biden assumes the role of cheerleader for the virus relief package, the elements of the $1.9 trillion bill that are popular with Republicans will boost his support even further.
Brinkley said Biden’s decision to deliver a speech aimed directly at the nation before he makes the traditional presidential address to a joint session of Congress signals that it is as much an“introduction” of the president and his administration to the American people as a status report on his first 50 days in office.
Presidential addresses to Congress “tend to be a series of soundbites,” Brinkley said. “This way, he can make his case directly .”
Still, the prime-time speech is in many way san anachronism, better suited for an era when Americans had vastly fewer television options and in which a presidential address could reframe the national conversation.
The fragmented media landscape makes it more difficult for Biden to reach people, Zelizer said, but that may be beside the point.
“Everything he’s doing is throwback,” said Zelizer. “It’s part of his effort to create normalcy after the last four years.”