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Biden signs $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill into law, one day earlier than expected

11 March 2021
Dan Ackermann

President Biden signed the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act in the Oval Office on Thursday, one day earlier than originally scheduled.

Why it matters: The enactment of the massive coronavirus relief plan cements Biden's first major legislative victory and comes exactly one year after the pandemic was declared by the World Health Organization.

The big picture: Federal agencies will now face the daunting task of implementing one of the largest economic relief packages in U.S. history, which is projected to lift millions out of poverty in addition to supporting businesses and other institutions hit hard by the pandemic.

  • Key provisions of the bill include direct payments to Americans, an expansion of the child tax credit, aid to state and local governments, billions for the distribution of vaccines and more.
  • See a full breakdown.

Driving the news: Biden will kick off a "Help is Here" public relations blitz on Tuesday with a visit to Delaware County, Pa. — a key suburb of Philadelphia that helped the president clinch his Electoral College victory. On Friday, March 16, Biden and Vice President Harris will travel to Atlanta.

  • The tour is part of a broader strategy to sell the landmark legislative accomplishment, something that Team Biden believes will net the new president political rewards President Obama never saw for his 2009 financial recovery package.
  • The White House rolled out a new website on Thursday that allows Americans to find out how to receive their direct payments and other ways that the relief package will affect them.

On Thursday night at 8 p.m. ET,in his first primetime speech, Biden plans to "launch the next phase of the COVID response, and explain what we will do as a government and what we will ask of the American people," according to the White House.

  • In a sneak peek, Biden said the speech — expected to run under 20 minutes — will "talk about what we went through as a nation this past year. But more importantly, I’m going to talk about what comes next."
  • A White House preview says Biden will speak about how this has been the greatest operational challenge the country has faced.

Go deeper: Full breakdown of the relief bill

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.