Biden signs economic stimulus bill

Taxpayers could receive $1,400 deposits from the U.S. government as soon as this weekend, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Thursday. In a ceremony in the Oval Office, President Joe Biden signed the $1.9 trillion stimulus bill, which passed in Congress without a single Republican vote.

What’s in the bill? In addition to the individual stimulus payments, it extends extra pandemic unemployment benefits, funds COVID-19 vaccines and testing, and money for state and local governments and schools. It funds a mountain of Democratic priorities not directly related to the virus, including tax breaks for lower-earning people, families with children, and consumers buying health insurance. In his first primetime address in the White House Thursday night, President Joe Biden called the bill a "historic piece of legislation" and said he's asking states and territories to make all adults eligible for vaccines by May 1.

Dig deeper: Read Harvest Prude’s report in The Stew about how this spending bill could hurt the U.S. economy in the long run.

Editor’s note: WORLD has updated this report since its initial posting.