COVID-19 Relief And Cash Payments Near; CDC Says Vaccinated Can Gather Without Masks
Consider This from NPR
NPR
4.2 • 6.2K Ratings
🗓️ 8 March 2021
⏱️ 13 minutes
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Summary
The package contains direct cash payments for many Americans, extended unemployment benefits, billions of dollars for vaccine distribution and a significant change to the child tax credit that could lift millions of American children out of poverty. Indi Dutta-Gupta of the Georgetown Center on Poverty and Inequality explains how the credit would work.
And there's new guidance for Americans who've been fully vaccinated. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say vaccinated people can feel safe enjoying a few pre-pandemic freedoms. NPR's Allison Aubrey has details. Here's more information on the new CDC recommendations.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The deadline set by Democrats to pass a massive COVID relief package worth almost two trillion |
| 0:06.7 | dollars is March 14th that Sunday. As of right now, they're on track. |
| 0:12.0 | Yees are 50. The days of 49 the bill as amended is passed. |
| 0:21.0 | The Senate accrued the package, officially called the American Rescue Plan over the weekend |
| 0:25.8 | without a single Republican vote. Senator Angus King of Maine was one of the Yees. |
| 0:32.2 | Everybody wanted to get this thing done by March 14th, which is when the current boost |
| 0:37.2 | unemployment ends. So now the bill heads back to the house where an earlier version also passed |
| 0:44.0 | without a single Republican vote. Angus King, an independent, told NPR, he didn't understand |
| 0:50.0 | why. |
| 0:51.0 | The major pieces of the bill, payments to individuals, extended unemployment, money for states |
| 0:55.8 | and localities, money for schools, all of those things were in the COVID package that |
| 1:01.0 | passed last year that all the Republicans voted for. |
| 1:04.1 | So this time around, Republicans say the bill is too big. With or without their support, |
| 1:10.2 | it could be ready for a president Biden's signature as early as Tuesday, meaning cash |
| 1:15.3 | payments could hit bank accounts in the next few weeks. Here's White House Press Secretary |
| 1:19.8 | Jen Psaki. |
| 1:20.8 | I will tell you that our focus right now is on getting this bill across the finish line, |
| 1:26.3 | getting relief out to the American people, which we expect will happen by the end of the |
| 1:30.8 | month in terms of getting the relief out. |
| 1:33.9 | Consider this, the largest standalone economic stimulus in American history is almost a reality. |
| 1:40.0 | We'll explain more about what's in it, including a provision that could dramatically reduce |
| 1:44.3 | child poverty in America. |
... |
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