Democrats hail Covid-19 stimulus ‘cutting child poverty in half’ ahead of Biden’s first primetime address

Joe Biden scored his first major victory as US president on Wednesday

Credit: REUTERS/Tom Brenner

As well as direct relief for American families and an extension of weekly $300 unemployment benefits for a further six months, the stimulus brings $350 billion in aid to state and local governments, tens of billions for small businesses and almost $130bn to reopen schools.

In his address on Thursday evening, Mr Biden is expected to extoll the contents of the bill and define how the relief will be distributed. An internal White House memo leaked to CNN this week describes an “all hands on deck” effort by senior Democrats to implement the plan quickly and sell its benefits to the American people.

“Everything in the American Rescue Plan addresses a real need, including investments to fund our entire vaccination effort,” Mr Biden said on Wednesday. With three separate vaccines approved for use in the US, about two million people a day are now receiving shots.

The president received another lift on Thursday when new claims for unemployment dropped to 712,000, the lowest monthly total since the pandemic began.