Alyssa Fowers
Graphics reporter focusing on data visualization and analysis
Kevin Schaul
Senior graphics editor covering corporate accountability
March 11 at 12:43 PM
Congress has passed the American Rescue Plan, a $1.9 trillion spending package that aims to accelerate the U.S. economic recovery and provide funds to support the speedy distribution of vaccines.
This latest round of aid, which was rejected by all Republicans in Congress, marks the first major legislative victory for President Biden. In contrast with the emergency bills passed last year, the Democratic bill focuses the vast majority of aid on households, states and cities, and vaccine distribution. There is little money directed this time toward businesses.
Estimated deficit impact of major coronavirus relief bills over 10 years
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Aid to individuals
$1,090B
Health coverage provisions
Nutrition, housing & child-care
Refundable tax credits
(CTC, EITC, CDTC)
State & local
governments $510B
Nutrition, housing & child-care
State & local
governments $275B
Note: CRFB analysis accounted for $1.8 of the
$1.9T March 2021 stimulus
Source: Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget
March + Dec. 2020 stimulus
Aid to individuals $1,090B
Health coverage provisions
Nutrition, housing and child-care
Refundable tax credits
(CTC, EITC, CDTC)
State & local governments
$510B
Nutrition, housing and child-care
State & local governments
$275B
Note: CRFB analysis accounted for $1.8 of the $1.9T
March 2021 stimulus
Source: Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget
March 2020 + Dec. 2020 stimulus
Aid to individuals $1,090B
Health coverage provisions
Nutrition, housing and child-care
Refundable tax credits (CTC, EITC, CDTC)
Aid to state & local governments $510B
Nutrition, housing and child-care
Aid to state & local governments $275B
Note: CRFB analysis accounted for $1.8 of the $1.9T American Rescue Plan
Source: Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget
Over half the money — 54 percent — in the bill goes toward households. In addition to the popular $1,400 checks, there is also funding for extra unemployment insurance through Labor Day, expanded tax credits, and various programs to make rent, food and health insurance more affordable.
[Calculate how much you would get from the $1,400 (or more) coronavirus checks]
Economists say low- and moderate-income Americans will benefit the most from this aid, especially individuals earning $75,000 or less and couples earning $150,000 or less. The number of Americans living in poverty is predicted to drop in 2021 by as much as a third because of this legislation.
The cash infusion is expected to result in a 20 percent income boost for the bottom 20 percent of earners (those making $25,000 or less), according to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center.
Change in after-tax income under Biden’s stimulus plan
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The lowest income group would see their income rise by 20%, on average
Household
income less
than $25k
Source: Tax Policy Center
The lowest income group would see their income rise by 20%, on average
Household income
less than $25k
Source: Tax Policy Center
The lowest income group would see their income rise by 20%, on average
Household income
less than $25k
Source: Tax Policy Center
[What’s in Congress’s $1.9 trillion covid bill: Checks, unemployment insurance and more]
One of the biggest complaints about the bill from Republicans is the overall price tag. This additional spending comes on top of about $2.8 trillion that was approved last year, plus trillions more that the Federal Reserve has pumped into markets and the economy.
How the Biden stimulus plan would affect the deficit
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The American Rescue Plan would increase the budget deficit most in 2021 and 2022, according to the nonpartisan
Congressional Budget Office.
Projected impact
of latest stimulus
Projection
without
stimulus
Source: Congressional Budget Office
The American Rescue Plan would increase the budget deficit most in 2021 and 2022, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
Projected impact of latest stimulus
Projection
without
stimulus
Source: Congressional Budget Office
The American Rescue Plan would increase the budget deficit most in 2021 and 2022, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
Projected impact of latest stimulus
Projection without stimulus
Source: Congressional Budget Office
Republicans argue that a smaller bill would be sufficient and that too much money is spent on programs not related to the coronavirus crisis. When the cost of all three stimulus bills are combined, the total greatly exceeds federal spending on both the Great Recession and New Deal, after adjusting for inflation and the growing size of the U.S. population.
On its own, Biden’s American Rescue Plan is smaller than those two interventions.
The three coronavirus bills combined dwarf earlier interventions
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Federal spending per capita on stimulus during each era adjusted for inflation
Covid stimulus
(2020-2021)
Great Recession
(2009-2012)
Note: Figures are in 2021 dollars.
Source: St. Louis Fed, CRFB, U.S. Census
Total federal spending per capita on stimulus during
each era adjusted for inflation
Covid-19 stimulus
(2020-2021)
Great Recession
(2009-2012)
Note: Figures are in 2021 dollars.
Source: St. Louis Fed, CRFB, U.S. Census
Total federal spending per capita on stimulus during each era adjusted for inflation
Covid-19 stimulus
(2020-2021)
Great Recession
(2009-2012)
Note: Figures are in 2021 dollars.
Source: St. Louis Fed, Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, U.S. Census
Democrats counter that the nation spent too little in the wake of the Great Recession, which resulted in years of additional pain. Biden and Democratic leaders said they did not want to repeat that error.
[Biden wants to sell the stimulus. The White House is still figuring out how.]
Democrats are also portraying this legislation as one of the biggest anti-poverty efforts the U.S. government has undertaken in decades. The main income boost comes from another round of stimulus checks that can give as much as $5,600 to a family of four, and the temporary expansion of the Child Tax Credit, which will give as much as $3,000 per child ages 6 to 17 (and $3,600 for children under age 6) to low- and moderate-income families.
[Calculate how much you would get from the expanded child tax credit]
According to calculations by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a Massachusetts family of four that had an income of about $53,000 before the pandemic and has one parent out of work stands to receive more than $22,000 from this package. A single individual in Tennessee who is unemployed and used to earn about $25,000 could receive as much as $15,000 from this bill. These families would also potentially be eligible for more help to pay rent and afford health insurance.
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A family of four in Massachusetts
in which one parent lost a job would get around $66,000 from the government, including $15,500
in assistance that would have been available even without the stimulus.
Previously
existing
assistance
Aug.
Lost
Wages
Assistance
March
2021
American
Rescue
Plan
A single unemployed person in Tennessee would get around $44,000, including $6,200 that would have been available even without the stimulus.
March
2021
American
Rescue
Plan
Previously
existing
assistance
Aug.
Lost
Wages
Assistance
Note: Figures exclude a refund for some child-care costs. They assume an individual pre-unemployment income of $25,000 and,
where applicable, a family income of $53,000.
Source: Marc Goldwein, Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget
A family of four in Massachusetts in which one parent lost a job would get around $66,000 from the government, including $15,500 in assistance that would have been available even without the stimulus.
Previously
existing
assistance
August
Lost Wages
Assistance
December
stimulus
package
March
2021
American
Rescue Plan
A single unemployed person in Tennessee would get around $44,000, including $6,200 that would have been available even without the stimulus.
March
2021
American
Rescue Plan
Previously
existing
assistance
August
Lost Wages
Assistance
December
stimulus
package
Note: Figures exclude a refund for some child-care costs.
They assume an individual pre-unemployment income
of $25,000 and, where applicable, a family income of $53,000.
Source: Marc Goldwein, Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget
A family of four in Massachusetts in which one parent lost a job would get around $66,000 from the government, including $15,500 in assistance that would have been available even without the stimulus.
Previously
existing
assistance
August
Lost Wages
Assistance
December
stimulus
package
March
2021
American
Rescue Plan
A single unemployed person in Tennessee would get around $44,000, including $6,200 that would have been available even without the stimulus.
March
2021
American
Rescue Plan
Previously
existing
assistance
August
Lost Wages
Assistance
December
stimulus
package
Note: Figures exclude a refund for some child-care costs. They assume an individual
pre-unemployment income of $25,000 and, where applicable, a family income of $53,000.
Source: Marc Goldwein, Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget
The United States has about 40 million people living in poverty, and nearly 13 million of them are expected to be lifted out of poverty by this bill, according to an analysis by Columbia University’s Center on Poverty and Social Policy. An analysis by the Urban Institute predicts similar results, with poverty declining by as much as 42 percent among Black Americans and 39 percent among Hispanic Americans.
Andrew Van Dam contributed to this report.
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