By Jack Phillips
White House press secretary Jen Psaki stated that individuals could receive $1,400 direct payments in their bank accounts as soon as this weekend after President Joe Biden signed a $1.9 trillion stimulus package into law on Thursday.
“People can expect to start seeing direct deposits hit their bank accounts as early as this weekend,” Psaki told reporters at the White House. More payments will be issued over the next several weeks, she said, adding that more than 158 million households should expect to receive them.
“This is, of course, just the first wave,” Psaki stated, adding that “payments to eligible Americans will continue throughout the course of the next several weeks.”
The quickness in which the payments are being sent out is similar to how the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued $600 stimulus payments in December after a prior stimulus measure was passed and signed into law by then-President Donald Trump.
Other than the stimulus payments, tens of billions of dollars are being dolled out to state, local, and tribal governments. The bill also will continue the expanded unemployment benefits for several more months and will expand the child credit for a year.
“This historic legislation is about rebuilding the backbone of this country,” Biden said Thursday before signing the bill. “And giving people in this nation, working people, middle-class folks, the people who built this country, a fighting chance.”
And on Thursday night, Biden will deliver its first primetime TV address to the United States, where he is expected to provide an update about the U.S. response to the CCP virus pandemic.
“He plans to provide a clear outline of his approach, level with the American people about what is required of them, but also provide a sense of hope of what is possible,” Psaki said.
The president has discouraged cities and states from loosening their guidelines on large gatherings even as more localities relax restrictions.
Reuters contributed to this report.
