excuse me here's president biden now
you know uh when we took office
45 days ago i promised the american
people help was on the way
today i can say we've taken one more
giant step
forward in delivering on that promise
that help is on the way
i want to thank startup by thanking the
vice president but i want to thank all
of the senators
who worked so hard to reach a compromise
to do the right thing
for the american people during this
crisis and voted to pass the american
rescue plan
it obviously wasn't easy it wasn't
always pretty
but it was so desperately needed
urgently needed
also i also need to say a few words
about the majority leader chuck schumer
who i spoke with
many times in this and again this
morning i served in the senate
as you all know for many years i've
never seen
anyone work as skillfully as
ably as patiently with determination
to deliver such a consequential piece of
legislation
that was so urgently needed as the
american rescue plan
chuck schumer senator chuck schumer
when the country needed you most you led
chuck and you're delivered
neither i near the country will ever
forget that and it's not a moment too
soon i've been talking about the urgency
of this need
for a man for over a year the american
people were told they were on their own
they were seeing uh we've seen how hard
that has been on so many americans
as of last night 519
064 lives lost to the virus
that many empty chairs this morning the
breakfast table
gone more than 400 small businesses
closed unnecessarily
millions of people out of work through
no fault of their own i want to
emphasize that
through no fault of their own
food bank lines stretching for miles did
any of you ever think you'd see that in
america
in cities all across this country
families facing the threat of eviction
this nation has suffered too much for
much
too long and everything in this package
is designed to relieve the suffering
and to meet the most urgent needs of the
nation
and put us in a better position to
prevail
starting with beating this virus and
vaccinating the country
the resources this plan will be used to
expand and speed up
manufacturing and distribution of
vaccines so we can get every single
american
vaccinated sooner than later i believe
by
we'll have enough by the end of by the
middle of may
to vaccinate it's going to take longer
to get in their arms but that's how much
vaccine we'll have
because of all the funding we'll be able
to hire more vaccinators
set up more vaccination sites to get the
country
in a place to get back to normal
this plan will get checks out the door
starting this month
to the american people who so
desperately need the help
many of whom are lying in bed at night
staring at the ceiling wondering
will i lose my job if i haven't already
will i lose my insurance will i lose my
home
over 85 percent of american households
will get direct payments
of 1 400 per person
for a typical middle class family of
four husband and wife working making a
hundred thousand dollars a year total
with three kids they'll get fifty six
hundred dollar i mean
with two kids we've got fifty six
hundred dollars and it'll be on the way
soon that means the mortgage can get
paid that means the child can stay in
community college
that means maintaining the health
insurance you have
it's gonna make a big difference in so
many lives in this country
unemployment benefits will be extended
for 11 million americans
who've lost their jobs who last night
again were lying in bed thinking my lord
i'm going to lose my unemployment
insurance
in a week or so was about to expire
schools are going to have the resources
needed to open safely
states and local governments that have
lost tens of thousands of essential
workers
will have the resources they need
available to them
to those laid off police officers
firefighters teachers and nurses they
can rehire
there are these are essential personnel
look the american rescue plan lowers
health care premiums
food nutrition assistance it's hard to
believe
that 24 million adults and 11 million
children as i speak in the united states
suffer from food insecurity
that means simply they don't have enough
food to eat
did you ever imagine in the united
states of america
you'd see lines literally miles long
kids folks in their automobiles waiting
for a box of food to be put in their
trunk
i stood in line handing out food
the people coming up never ever ever
thought they'd be in that position
this helps families who are behind in
their rent their mortgage payments so
they aren't thrown out of their homes
look the bottom line is this this plan
puts us on a path
to beating the virus this plan gives
those families who are struggling the
most the help and the breathing room
they need to get through this moment
this plan gives small businesses in this
country a fighting chance to survive
and one more thing this plan is historic
taken all together this plan is going to
make it possible to cut child poverty in
half let me say it again
a significant historic will cut child
poverty in
half there's much more to this bill
but for now let me make one final point
when i was elected i said we're going to
get the government out of the business
of battling on twitter and back in the
business of delivering
for the american people of making a
difference in their lives
giving everyone a chance a fighting
chance
of showing the american people that
their government can work for them
and passing the american rescue plan
will do that
and you know it may sound strange but a
lot of
senators and congressmen i want to thank
but i really want to thank the american
people for making all this possible
i said well how did they make it
possible well quite frankly without the
overwhelming
bipartisan support of the american
people
this would not have happened your
elected officials heard you
overwhelming public support every public
opinion poll
shows overwhelming support for this plan
and for the last weeks has shown that
every public opinion poll shows that
people want this
they believe it's needed and they
believe it's urgent
now this bill returns to the house of
representatives which has done a great
job from the beginning
where i hope it will find quick passage
so it can be sent to my desk to be
signed in the law
by passing the american rescue plan
we'll have heeded the voice of the
american people
not ignored their voices by passing this
plane we would have delivered
real tangible results for the american
people and their families
they'll be able to see and know and
feel the change in their own lives
by passing this plan we'll have proved
that this government
this democracy can still work
what has to be done it'll improve
people's lives one more thing
the vast majority of economists left
right and center
from wall street to the to the
private private uh uh
economic polling initiatives
the economists as i said left right and
center
say in addition to the needs that people
have we
need this to grow the economy that if we
haven't spent this money
and recreated the kind of incentive for
people to
be able to make a good living that we'd
be in real trouble
this will create millions of new jobs
it's estimated over 6 million new jobs
by itself
increase the gross domestic product by a
trillion dollars
put our nation a position to out compete
the rest of the world
because the rest of the world is moving
particularly china
and to know that as tough as this moment
is
there are brighter days ahead there
really are
as i said before it's never a good bet
to bet against america
it's never been a good bet to bet
against the american people
we are america we're going to get there
we're going to remain the leading
economy in the world
and going to be the most successful
economy in the world
because of you the american people thank
you
and god bless you all may god protect
our troops thank you
president joe biden there uh thanking
the american people for expressing their
support of this bill
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they're going to be good i'm going to
succeed we're going to succeed moving
forward
look the american people
strongly support doing
that's the key here and that's going to
continue to seep down
through the public including from our
republican friends
there's a lot of republicans who came
very close they've got a lot of pressure
on them
i'm still haven't given up on getting
their support thank you
so uh president joe biden they're
fielding a question from the
white house correspondents there and
once again saying that he's thanking
hang on he's still going bernie sanders
all compromised and didn't affect the
substance and the essence of that
ability
going from 300 and 400 to 300
to unemployment assets well it got
extended
and so i don't think any compromise has
been anywhere fundamentally
with the essence of what i couldn't