The American Rescue Plan, which President Biden signed into law on Mar. 11, 2021, threw out a lifeline to millions of Americans suffering from job loss and business downturns, lack of health care and vaccines, little schooling and childcare during the pandemic, and more.
I continue to encounter Democrats who say that they’re disappointed in the Democratic Party, complaining that “they haven’t accomplished anything.” Seriously! Are they (and maybe even you) kidding?
Some seem to have forgotten the trillion-dollar American Rescue Plan Act that Democrats passed, without a single Republican vote, a little more than two months after the new administration took office.
More than 9.5 million workers lost their jobs in the wake of the pandemic, with 4 million out of work for half a year or longer. The American Rescue Plan delivered $1,400 tax-exempt checks to every taxpayer in the US — with $2,800 for married couples, plus $1,400 for each dependent.
The American Rescue Plan in law provides:
• A historic infrastructure package to fix our aging roads and bridges and implement high-speed internet in every corner of our nation, creating millions of good-paying jobs.
• A Child Tax Credit that the Poverty and Public Policy Center at Columbia University says is one of the largest federal investments in children and a powerful policy tool to help end child poverty and grow the middle class. (Republicans blocked its expansion.)
• Extended and enhanced SNAP benefits, providing funds to alleviate backlogs and respond to pandemic impacts in our food supply chains.
• Nearly $130 billion to help K-12 schools safely reopen and address lost time in the classroom.
• Expanded unemployment for millions and funds that saved businesses that were closed due to the pandemic.
• Lifesaving vaccines to combat COVID to more than 70% of the nation, enabling businesses and schools to reopen.
• Funds to help create millions of new jobs with unemployment dropping to 3.9% within a year.
• Nearly $10 billion for states, territories, and tribes to provide “relief for our country’s most vulnerable homeowners, and an Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) program for disbursement to existing state and local government programs.”
• Critical tax benefits to small businesses to keep them afloat, along with Employee Retention Credits and paid leave programs for employees who needed to take leave due to illness, quarantine, or caregiving.
• Essential medical supplies and equipment through the Defense Production Act to prevent shortages of protective medical supplies and equipment, which the Trump administration experienced.
• The opening of the federal healthcare exchange during the pandemic emergency, enabling 14.5 million previously uninsured Americans to get affordable health insurance through the Affordable Care Act.
Democrats prove that even with the thinnest of margins in the House and Senate, they can do the people’s business. Unlike the Republican Party, Democrats take their job of passing laws that benefit ordinary Americans very seriously. Be proud of this record of laws that Democrats have passed on behalf of the American people in their first term.
The Republican party’s agenda is crystal clear: Take away personal freedoms from ordinary citizens and “Keep Power at All Costs!”
If we keep the House and Senate in November, Democrats will codify Roe, marriage equality, voting rights, police reform, and a ban on assault weapons. Vote for Democrats up and down the ballot to save our representative democracy and our personal freedoms.
Check out the rest of the articles in our Biden-Harris series:
The Awesome Accomplishments of the Biden-Harris Administration
Gen Z and Gun Violence: Your Vote Can Save Lives
Biden Continues the Job Growth Trends of Past Democratic Presidents
Big, Bold Climate Action in the Inflation Reduction Act
The Lifesaving Healthcare Provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act
Republicans Have Brought Us to a Fascist Flashpoint
The PACT Act Proves Democrats Care About Our Veterans
The CHIPS and Science Act: A Boon for US Manufacturing and Technology
Eighteen Months in … and I’m Still Ridin’ With Biden
