Biden’ set to sign $1.9T COVID relief bill Thursday before speech to nation
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WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Joe Biden is set to sign into law Thursday the $1.9 trillion relief package that he says will help the U.S. defeat the virus and nurse the economy back to health.
He originally planned to sign the bill on Friday. But the White House moved that up to Thursday afternoon, hours before the president plans to give his first prime-time address to the American public on the one-year anniversary of the pandemic.
Chief of staff Ron Klain tweeted that the bill actually arrived at the White House late Wednesday, more quickly than anticipated. “We want to move as fast as possible,” he said.
He added, “We will hold our celebration of the signing on Friday, as planned, with congressional leaders!”
Previewing his remarks, Biden said he would "talk about what we've been through as a nation this past year, but more importantly, I'm going to talk about what comes next."
Biden’s challenge Thursday night will be to honor the sacrifices made by Americans over the last year while encouraging them to remain vigilant despite "virus fatigue" and growing impatience to resume normal activities given the tantalizing promise of vaccines. Speaking on the one-year anniversary of the World Health Organization’s declaration of a pandemic, he’ll mourn the dead, but also project optimism about the future.
"This is a chance for him to really beam into everybody's living rooms and to be both the mourner in chief and to explain how he's leading the country out of this," said presidential historian and Rice University professor Douglas Brinkley.