Day 50: "Help is on the way." - a podcast by Matt Kiser

1/ The House passed Biden’s $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief package, which will send $1,400 stimulus checks to millions of Americans, extend enhanced unemployment benefits, help schools and colleges reopen, and fund vaccine distribution. One Democrat — Rep. Jared Golden — joined all Republicans in voting against the measure. The House passed a similar version of the bill last month, but had to approve changes made by the Senate after the parliamentarian ruled that the federal minimum wage increase violated the Senate’s rules. “This legislation is about giving the backbone of this nation – the essential workers, the working people who built this country, the people who keep this country going – a fighting chance,” Biden said in a statement. Nancy Pelosi called the bill a “force for fairness and justice in America,” comparing it to the Affordable Care Act in its significance, and saying “I join President Biden in his promise: help is on the way.” Despite 70% of Americans favoring the package, Republicans argued that the plan was a bloated “laundry list of left-wing priorities that predate the pandemic.” Biden is expected to sign the relief bill Friday, and mark the one-year anniversary of the pandemic in his first prime-time address to the nation Thursday. (New York Times / Washington Post / NPR / Politics / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / The Guardian / ABC News / CBS News / USA Today)

• What’s in the Covid-19 relief package: Stimulus checks, unemployment assistance, aid to states and municipalities, nutrition assistance, housing aid, tax credits for families and workers, optional paid sick and family leave, education and child care funding, health insurance subsidies and Medicaid matching funds, more money for small businesses, and vaccine and testing funds. (CNN)

2/ Biden ordered an additional 100 million doses of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine. The planned purchase would bring the country’s total vaccine order to 800 million doses – split among three manufacturers – and give the U.S. more than enough supply to vaccinate every adult in the country. Johnson & Johnson, however, is unlikely to deliver the additional 100 million shots in time to speed up vaccinations this spring. (NBC News / WTF Just Happened Today

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