romeroj3@lopers.unk.edu
President Biden signed the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill March 11. This bill grants millions of dollars to the American people in the form of stimulus checks.
The bill was passed by Congress the day before when the House of Representatives approved the amended version of the bill that was previously passed by the Senate.
This third relief bill is going to be different for many college students who are still claimed as dependents. In the previous bills, there was an age limit on dependents that would qualify for assistance. Young adults 17 years or older were previously being claimed by their parents and not receiving any aid.
In this bill, anybody earning less than $75,000 or $150,000 for couples will receive $1,400 dollars in stimulus checks for any qualifying adult. Additionally, families will receive $3,600 for any child under 6 years old and $3,000 per child up to 17 years old.
Since the age limit is not included in this bill, many college students that did not previously qualify for aid will now be able to receive a stimulus check. Dependents older than 17 years will receive stimulus checks through their parents.
Unemployment benefits also received additional aid to provide unemployed Americans an extra $300 per week.
The American Relief Plan also aims to help build back the economy after the pandemic. The bill provides $350 billion in aid going to state and local governments, and it also includes $130 billion in funding to help schools safely reopen after the pandemic. Fifty billion dollars is being used to aid small businesses and landlords.
Aside from providing aid, the bill also funds $34.2 billion dollars to the expansion of the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare. This will help health care subsidies expand in order to help more people affected by the pandemic. The bill also includes $160 billion in COVID-19 vaccine research, manufacturing and distribution that will aid in the White House acquiring enough vaccines to immunize all Americans by May.
The plan also offers $30 billion in aid to restaurants. In addition, it boosts the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefit by 15% through September.
The first round of stimulus checks is expected to reach direct deposit accounts as soon as the weekend after the bill’s signing and subsequent rounds will follow until the end of March.
