![Biden unveils $1.9 trillion economic rescue plan for U.S.[Video] - Photo/Image](https://parrotnigeria.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/EDDB5F2E-41D6-46F7-A707-803917ED2308.jpeg "Biden unveils $1.9 trillion economic rescue plan for U.S.[Video] - Photo/Image")
U.S. President-elect Joe Biden on Thursday unveiled a $1.9 trillion stimulus package to jump-start the economy and speed up the response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The package includes $415 billion to bolster the response to the virus and the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines.
There are some $1 trillion in direct relief to households, and roughly $440 billion for small businesses and communities particularly hard hit by the pandemic.
Stimulus payment checks would be issued for $1,400 – topping up the $600 checks issued under the last congressional stimulus legislation.
“It’s not hard to see that we’re in the middle of a once-in-several-generations economic crisis with a once-in-several-generations public health crisis.
“A crisis of deep human suffering is in plain sight and there’s no time to waste,” Biden said in a prime-time address on Thursday evening.
“We have to act and we have to act now.”
Biden’s plan is meant to kick off his time in office with a large bill that sets his short-term agenda into motion quickly: helping the economy and getting a handle on a virus that has killed more than 385,000 people in the United States as of Thursday.
Trump, who leaves office on Wednesday, did support $2,000 payments to Americans, however.
Watch Biden deliver the plan:
