White House announces "Help is Here Tour" to promote Covid relief plan

US President Joe Biden and other top officials will promote the coronavirus relief package next week by hitting the road on what the White House called as "Help is Here Tour."

According to CNN, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said that on Monday first lady Jill Biden will travel to Burlington, New Jersey, and Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff will travel to Las Vegas, Nevada.

On Tuesday, the President will travel to Delaware County, Pennsylva, and Harris and Emhoff will travel to Denver, Colorado. On Wednesday, Emhoff will travel to Albuquerque, New Mexico, and on Friday, the President will join Harris in Atlanta, Georgia.

"During their trips, they will discuss the benefits of the ARP for working families," Psaki said during the daily press briefing, adding that they "will engage with people at each of these stops about how the American people can benefit from the component of the package."

Psaki said that they will talk about the USD 1,400 stimulus checks, which will begin to be deployed "as early as this weekend," as well as the child tax credit, the extension of unemployment insurance, rental and homeowner assistance, the expansion of the earned income tax credit, health insurance subsidies, "and of course the fact that the bill will lift 11 million people out of poverty and cut child poverty in half."

According to CNN, for 10 days, administration officials will focus on one element of the bill per day, from the stimulus checks and emergency unemployment insurance extensions to vaccine distribution and reopening schools.

Biden on Thursday (local time) signed USD 1.9 trillion coronavirus rescue package into law, marking a significant legislative accomplishment as the new administration looks to shepherd the country through the pandemic.

Psaki said that people could start receiving $1,400 direct payments in their bank accounts as soon as this weekend after President Biden signed the legislation authorizing the payments earlier in the afternoon.

"People can expect to start seeing direct deposits hit their bank accounts as early as this weekend," Psaki said during a press briefing as quoted by The Hill.

She added that those payments are "just the first wave" and that more will be issued over the next several weeks.

Biden, who signed the bill alongside Vice President Kamala Harris in the Oval Office, characterized the measure as historic legislation aimed at "rebuilding the backbone of this country."

( With inputs from ANI )