Federal stimulus checks are prepared for printing at the Philadelphia Financial Center.
Jeff Fusco | Getty Images News | fake images
Some Americans will receive new stimulus checks from the coronavirus as early as this weekend, the White House said Thursday.
The news from White House press secretary Jen Psaki came minutes after President Joe Biden signed the $ 1.9 trillion Covid aid bill.
“People can expect to start seeing direct deposits hit their bank accounts starting this weekend,” Psaki told a news conference.
“This is, of course, only the first wave,” Psaki noted, adding that “payments to eligible Americans will continue for the next few weeks.”
Beyond billions of dollars in funding for vaccines, state and local governments and other areas, the plan will send direct payments of up to $ 1,400 to most Americans.
It would also extend an unemployment insurance increase of $ 300 per week through Sept. 6 and extend the child tax credit for one year.
Use Grow’s relief calculator to see how much you could receive under the new law:
The huge bill, which a majority of Americans support, passed through Congress without the backing of Republican lawmakers. The Democratic-led House and Senate pushed the bill through Congress through the budget reconciliation process.
“This landmark legislation is about rebuilding the backbone of this country,” Biden said before signing the legislation. “And give the people of this nation, the working people, the middle class, the people who built this country, a chance to fight.”
Biden will deliver his first primetime address to the nation Thursday night. He will speak about the bill and offer a cautiously optimistic view of the next steps in the fight against the pandemic.
“He plans to provide a clear outline of his approach, at the level of the American people on what is required of them, but also to provide a sense of hope for what is possible,” Psaki said at the briefing.
The speech, scheduled to begin just after 8 p.m. ET, comes on Biden’s 50th day as president and on the first anniversary of the strict lockdown measures that were imposed across the country to slow the transmission of the virus.