u.s president-elect joe biden has
outlined a 1.9 trillion dollar
coronavirus and economic recovery plan
if passed by congress it includes one
trillion dollars for households
and over 400 billion dollars to combat
the pandemic directly
including accelerating current vaccine
programs and support for businesses
now he's previously promised 100 million
vaccines in the first 100 days of his
presidency
biden acknowledged his plans high price
tag but said that the country couldn't
afford
to do anything less and it's not hard to
see
that we're in the middle of the once in
several generations economic crisis
with a once in several generations
public health crisis
let's bring in dws peter roladal who has
been following all of the developments
in the united states for us so peter
tell us a little bit more about the plan
and
some of the challenges in getting it
through
right i mean this is bite and bringing
the big basuga to fight the pandemic
and to put this in perspective really
we're looking at two trillion dollars
that's more than
double the stimulus that the obama biden
administration passed in 2009 during the
great recession
one of the big criticisms back then was
that they simply did not do enough to
help average americans and it seems that
joe biden
has learned his lesson from that
financial crisis which is
go big or go home this coveted stimulus
package is a sweeping very ambitious
plan
that's aimed almost squarely at
struggling americans we're looking at
things like
a two thousand dollar check uh to
provide some immediate relief for
families
uh biden also wants to increase uh
jobless benefits prevent landlords from
kicking out
americans who can't pay their rent and
also raise the minimum wage
to 15 a lot more is in that package and
biden really wants to put
these measures in place through
september so a clear message that the
incoming president
does not expect this pandemic to end any
time soon
exactly um and given that you know this
economic crisis has been triggered by
the coronavirus pandemic indeed peter he
he's also um promising to deliver
americans through the pandemic with a
very ambitious covid19 vaccination
rollout just walk us through what he
plans and um
whether that is also feasible
right i mean baina said that he hopes to
deliver 100 million vaccines
shots in the first 100 days that's
almost 10 times what america
uh what the government has administered
since the rollout began a month ago
as you know that's a very very ambitious
plan that's all destined to be hampered
by the outgoing trump administration
which according to reports really has
been
stonewalling the biden administration it
also requires a level of national
coordination
that the trump administration has
actively discouraged
and as you hinted at there the big
question is whether
biden will be able to even get uh you
know congressional support for this
um democrats will control the senate but
biden would like to
pass his first big bill with bipartisan
support
and that's a big gift because at the
same time biden's trying to pass this
the senate will also be busy with you
know impeachment trial against trump and
that's all but guaranteed to deepen the
partisan divide in washington
okay peter stay with us um we want to
bring our viewers up to date on another
aspect of this story because
ahead of joe biden's inauguration next
week security in the u.s
capitol has been stepped up to
unprecedented levels
more than 20 000 soldiers are being
to deployed to prevent a repeat of the
kind of violence
seen last week in the capitol building
dw's carolina chamoy reports from
washington now
where the measures are being met with
mixed reaction from residents
you shall not pass that
seems to be the message all around the
capital
soldiers from the national guard have
flooded the sea
first came the fence then the barricades
were expecting around 20
000 soldiers from the national guard in
washington dc
on inauguration day some have already
lined up behind me
the city has never seen something like
that and people they are scared
i'll be out of dc completely on
inauguration day
dangerous too dangerous scary us
supposed to be the
beacon of you know civilization and
democracy
and we've come to this this is a sad sad
sight
the security that they've done since
wednesday is definitely needed
and i do feel better about it but i
think that the threat is still there i
feel kind of shaky i just want to make
sure that this time that they're
actually doing their job
to protect the city as opposed to you
know being unprepared like
last time behind the fence
it's all hands on deck
soldiers from 11 states have arrived in
washington d.c
they are organizing their equipment
checking their weapons
and getting ready in case violence
returns to the city
they still don't know for how long they
will stay deployed here
but the ones who spoke to us said they
are proud to be here
and to defend their democracy
but it's also a logistical challenge
for now they're waiting this might look
like a military base but we're actually
in the heart of the capital building the
soldiers are resting here they're having
lunch
and they're getting prepared for january
20th inauguration
nobody knows what awaits them
the halls still bear signs of last
week's riots
terrible thing not what our country
stands for
and it was perpetrated by
donald trump and it was just such a
violation
and now they are here to fix it
peter's back with us peter just briefly
what's the latest on the prospect of
further unrest
we've seen on social media that there
has been a lot of planning among
uh the most art and trump supporters to
have more uh
protests ahead of the inauguration um
this comes amid reports
um that a lot of the people that took
part in the protest
on january 6th were um actually on fbi's
terrorist watch list and a lot of them
white supremacists this as a country is
just days away from the inauguration
of its first black vice president so a
reminder if any was needed
of the deep divisions and resentments
that the incoming administration
is going to be up against as they take
off is next week
dw's peter rolla doll thank you