In the words of VP Kamala Harris, the new tour across the nation that started from Las Vegas recently is not the so-called American Rescue Plan tour. Instead, the US Vice President explained it in a way that people could know their entitlements under the pandemic relief bill.
Harris said that the above-mentioned plan, which the President of the US Joe Biden approved recently, includes the following.
- $1,400 as payments to every single parent and their child;
- $5,600 as direct payments to married people who have two kids;
- Expanded federal unemployment benefits of $300 per week, which is prolonged until September 2021;
- Wholly subsidized insurance premiums under the COBRA act to keep workers who faced lay-offs on the health plans of their employer for free until September 2021; and,
- Expanded tax credits to help deal with the costs of raising a child. The credits could aid in reducing the impoverished child count by over 50% – in Nevada, it means around 40,000 children.
Harris also said that the plan demonstrates the difference between duty and charity.
The latter is about giving some more money from time to time. On the other hand, the former is a more profound responsibility to assist others when needed all while considering their dignity.
The government should do that when people suffer and require some assistance to overcome a crisis they did not make, said Harris when addressing the Culinary Academy of Las Vegas’s staff. Harris was speaking at a CALV ballroom turned into a makeshift assembly line to pack boxes of emergency food. Harris seemingly implied that leaders should contribute to a pool of relief fund to express their assistance to people during a crisis.
Las Vegas city was the first place where Harris stopped in the tour, which promotes the US stimulus package made to aid the nation in overcoming the COVID-19 epidemic-induced economic situation. Nevada is among the most badly-affected states with regards to economics, as unemployment reached an unprecedented level last April when business closures shattered the hospitality and gaming sectors.
At the CALV, the US VP discussed how union representatives and workers would progress beyond the epidemic hump. That still comes with anxieties regarding whether all laid-off people would be hired again.
The coronavirus epidemic also exposed the flaws in the state’s hospital infrastructure. Nevada borrowed 50 breathing machines from California during the early pandemic to increase its ventilator count and assist the most seriously ill COVID-19 patients in breathing.
In March third week, Biden, Harris, their allies and spouses would promote the plan across the nation as part of their ‘Help is Here’ roadshow.
In the tour, congressman Steven Horsford introduced Kamala Harris in front of fresh fruits and vegetables stacked on pinto beans and pallets. For your information, Horsford served as the Chief Executive Officer of CALV before his tenure as a congressman from Nevada.
Horsford said that the virus would be crushed with the assistance of the said plan and that we would build back in a better way with VP Harris.
Vegas was the first national destination of Harris as VP, besides being the place where she first stopped in the tour. As part of it, she also stopped at the Las Vegas-based University of Nevada’s coronavirus vaccination clinic. Harris’s husband and the Second Gentleman of the United States, namely Doug Emhoff had a meeting with a local food relief charity. Emhoff and Harris planned to visit LA before the end of the day.
Nevada’s Governor Steve Sisolak accompanied the couple at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
As the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 is passed into law, further assistance would arrive soon for Nevada’s inhabitants, said Sisolak. That would include more funding to aid in quicker, more efficient vaccination, he said. At the same time, he said that there would be continuing collaboration with local and federal officials to reduce the speed of COVID-19 spread and help in resuming the economy as expected.
The visits to vaccination venues, schools, and business establishments are supposed to inform the public of the big American Rescue Plan’s different aspects.
As for Joe Biden, the Barack Obama administration did not sufficiently educate people on the advantages of the government recovery plan in the recession period. For your information, Biden served as the Vice President of the United States of American back then. Biden said that he would now like to better sell the information about his first-ever big victory in the legislative elections.
