On Wednesday, the House gave final approval for President Biden’s landmark $1.9 trillion stimulus legislation, called the American Rescue Plan. The legislation is one of the most sweeping economic recovery plans in the nation’s history.
The bill was first passed by the House last month, then amended and passed by the Senate last weekend. Today’s House vote was the final step in the legislative process to approve the Senate’s version of the bill. Biden is expected to sign the bill into law on Friday.
The package’s biggest provisions include $1,400 direct payments for taxpayers earnings less than $75,000 per year (or $150,000 for married couples), extended federal unemployment benefits of $300 per week through September, $170 billion to reopen schools, $100 billion to expand vaccine distribution, and an expanded child tax credit that could provide up to $3,600 per child in financial support.
The bill will also benefit millions of student loan borrowers, although it falls short of what some student loan borrower advocates had hoped for. Here’s a breakdown of what the stimulus bill does — and doesn’t do — for student loan borrowers.