This article was written by Elijah Emory-Muhammad of Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School
As of Thursday, Mar. 1, President Biden has signed his expansive $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package into law. After a narrow victory of 220 to 211 votes in the House of Representatives on Wednesday, Mar. 10, Democrats will finally be able to come through on their long-standing promise of providing a massive economic stimulus package to bolster the economy and help citizens endure the pandemic. With this much deficit spending, the contents of this package are bound to affect a wide array of Americans.
What will likely impact individual Americans the most are the $1,400 stimulus checks which should start hitting bank accounts through direct deposits as soon as the weekend following the legislation, according to White House press secretary Jen Psaki. In order to be eligible for the full check, an individual must have an adjusted gross income of up to $75,000, heads of household up to $112,500, and jointly filed married couples with to $150,000, who will receive the $1,400 payment per person. However, individuals, heads of households and married couples with adjusted gross incomes of $80,000, $120,000, $160,000 respectively and up will receive nothing.
The package also contains broader aid to low and middle-income Americans, essentially reducing tax burdens. Although the push for a $15 hourly minimum wage was unsuccessful, there will be an extension of unemployment benefits for those eligible under individual state laws. The federal government will send $300 per week to those eligible until Sep. 6.
The child tax credit also received some notable changes by being increased to $3,000 per child ages 6 to 17 and $3,600 under 6, according to CNBC However, the full tax credit is only available for individuals earning less than $75,000 and less than $150,000 for couples filing jointly. Adjusted gross income exceeding those numbers will trigger a reduction of $50 per $1,000 increase in income. Therefore, individuals making at least $95,000 and couples filing jointly making at least $170,000 will not receive any of the $3,000 tax credit. A $2,000 per child credit will be available to individuals who make up to $200,000 and couples filing jointly who make up to $400,000. This $2,000 per child credit is for those ineligible for the $3,000 per child credit due to earning higher gross adjusted incomes. There are also greater refunds available for people whose tax credit exceeds their taxes owed and unemployed parents are now eligible for the child tax credit.
Billions of dollars from the package are being poured into funding for vaccinations, school reopenings and local governments. According to The New York Times, the new bill includes $14 billion for vaccine distribution, as well as $130 billion for improved ventilation, extra janitors and distributing more personal protective equipment for school reopenings. Students’ safe return to school has been a pressing concern for many Americans; with this much spending used on ensuring the safety of students, teachers, staff and families, those worries should decrease somewhat. State and local governments will also get their shares of $350 billion to alleviate the economic downturn over the past year. Provisions of the Affordable Care Act are also being temporarily bolstered by $34 billion in spending and $25 billion is being poured into rental and utility assistance.
Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package mostly earmarks low to middle-class Americans for aid, and for good reason because they have been impacted the most. Even though Blacks and Hispanics only account for about 30 percent of the middle class, their death rate from COVID is significantly higher according to data from the CDC.
Food shortage due to decreased access has also been a prevalent issue during the pandemic,, especially for Black and Latino households. Household Pulse Survey data revealed that 11 percent of all adults in the country sometimes or often did not have enough food for their household compared to the pre-pandemic rate of 3.4 percent found by the Agriculture Department.
With the pandemic causing this much turmoil, it is no wonder why the Biden administration and Democrats in Congress pushed for this legislation to be enacted as soon as possible. Biden stated that the goal of this legislation is to “[give] people in this nation, working people, middle-class folks, the people who built this country, a fighting chance,” and hopefully it is able to do just that.
Comments