By Blake Haas
BLOOMINGTON – After passing a $900 million COVID-19 stimulus package in December, Illinois Senior Senator Dick Durbin is calling for more relief as Joe Biden spends his first days in office.
Senate Democratic Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said he supports President Biden’s proposed $1.9 trillion stimulus package that provides more money for vaccine administration logistics, among other things.
“We know the economic damage of this virus continues to linger. Nearly one in four people in my state in renter households report being behind on rent, and one in three households report having difficulty just covering usual household expenses. We continue to see historic numbers of Americans filing for unemployment, including more than 100,000 people in Illinois who filed for unemployment last week.
“But to fully address the health and economic toll of the pandemic, Congress needs to build upon the work we did in December and head the call of a $1.9 trillion plan that President Biden outlined last week.”
On Friday, President Biden signed two Executive Actions to streamline the delivery of stimulus checks and to bolster federal food assistance. Durbin said with only two months left of the previous package, Biden’s proposed plan needs bipartisan support.
“I pray that this pandemic and all the problems it’s caused will all soon be gone, but I doubt it will happen in the next three months. We have more work to do, and President Biden knows it, and I think we all do,” Durbin said speaking on the Senate floor.
House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi plans to bring the proposed stimulus package up for a vote when the House returns in February.
Blake Haas can be reached at [email protected].
