President Joseph R. Biden Jr. on Sunday spoke with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and and expressed gratitude they were prepared to begin action on his $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan.
“The President spoke to Speaker Pelosi and Leader Schumer today; he is grateful that Congress is prepared to begin action on the American Rescue Plan in just his second full week in office,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement.
Psaki said the President received a letter on Sunday from 10 Republican Senators asking to meet with him to discuss their ideas about the actions needed to address these crises.
“In response, the President spoke to Senator Collins, and invited her and other signers of the letter to come to the White House early this week for a full exchange of views,” Psaki said.
“With the virus posing a grave threat to the country, and economic conditions grim for so many, the need for action is urgent, and the scale of what must be done is large. The American Rescue Plan – including $1400 relief checks, a substantial investment in fighting COVID and reopening schools, aid to small businesses and hurting families, and funds to keep first responders on the job (and more) – is badly needed. As leading economists have said, the danger now is not in doing too much: it is in doing too little. Americans of both parties are looking to their leaders to meet the moment.”
Simon Ateba is Chief White House Correspondent for Today News Africa. Simon covers President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, the U.S. government, the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and other financial and international institutions in Washington D.C. and New York City.
