Durbin: COVID Relief Bill ‘Significantly’ Expands Safety Net Beyond Emergency Pandemic Relief

On Wednesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “Situation Room,” Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) stated that the coronavirus relief bill “significantly” expands America’s safety net beyond emergency pandemic relief.

Host Wolf Blitzer asked, “[B]eyond the emergency pandemic relief, how much does this expand the U.S. safety net?”

Durbin responded, “Well, I think it expands it significantly. The pandemic is our first priority, to make sure that we put it behind us with vaccinations and the kind of maintenance of care that people expect across America to keep them healthy. But in addition to that, we’re extending unemployment benefits for several months, and that’s important because they were set to expire next week. We are providing $1,400 for, I believe, 85% of American families, receiving some sort of a cash payment check. There are significant increases in child tax credits that mean that, we think, we can cut the poverty rate among children in America in half. That’s just a starter. To think what else we’re setting out to do, money for schools, money for counties and cities, this is a real all-out effort for us to put this economy back on its feet. We’ve been told keep your foot on the accelerator, let’s get out of this and put it behind us.”

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