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President-elect Joe Biden is calling for a $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief plan to help Americans weather the economic shock of the pandemic and pump more money into testing and vaccine distribution. Mr. Biden in a speech Thursday evening described his priorities related to the pandemic for the early days of his administration, pressing the often-divided Congress for urgent, unified action. His plan calls for a round of $1,400-per-person direct payments to most households, a $400-a-week unemployment insurance supplement through September, expanded paid leave and increases in the child tax credit. Aid for households makes up about half of the plan’s cost, with much of the rest going to vaccine distribution and state and local governments. (Rubin and Collins, 1/14)

Biden’s proposal is divided into three major areas: $400 billion for provisions to fight the coronavirus with more vaccines and testing, while reopening schools; more than $1 trillion in direct relief to families, including through stimulus payments and increased unemployment insurance benefits; and $440 billion for aid to communities and businesses, including $350 billion in emergency funding to state, local and tribal governments. (Werner and Stein, 1/14)

Across a planned two-day rollout of his pandemic strategy, Biden will also propose creating a federal public health corps of 100,000 people and deploying them to states to staff vaccination sites, bolster contact tracing and launch new programs to better reach rural communities. Biden’s team says they’ve been consulting for weeks with lawmakers in both parties and are pushing for bipartisan support for the plan. But as they anticipate pushback from GOP lawmakers on the size and scope of the legislation, their strategy involves taking their case for urgent action directly to the public and bringing pressure on Congress to support it. (Ollstein and Cancryn, 1/14)

Called the “American Rescue Plan,” the legislative proposal would meet Biden’s goal of administering 100 million vaccines by the 100th day of his administration, and advance his objective of reopening most schools by the spring. On a parallel track, it delivers another round of aid to stabilize the economy while the public health effort seeks the upper hand on the pandemic. “We not only have an economic imperative to act now — I believe we have a moral obligation,” Biden said in a nationwide address Thursday. (Alonso-Zaldivar and Barrow, 1/15)

The proposal, however, was light on specifics. The aides pledged, for instance, to invest in new Covid-19 treatments, but provided little detail. Biden also plans to unveil the specifics of his vaccination plan on Friday, aides said. It’s unclear how that announcement will differ from the Thursday funding request, and how much additional detail the president-elect will offer. (Facher and Cohrs, 1/14)

“A crisis of deep human suffering is in plain sight, and there’s no time to waste,” Biden said in prime-time remarks from Delaware. “We have to act and we have to act now.” ... “This will be one of the most challenging operations efforts we’ve ever undertaken as a nation. We’ll have to move heaven and earth to get more people vaccinated.” (Mason and Renshaw, 1/14)

President-elect Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion plan to provide economic relief during the coronavirus pandemic was largely welcomed by the business community that has been a loud advocate for further relief. Biden’s plan, which he announced Thursday, includes $415 billion focused on fighting COVID-19, upwards of $1 trillion on direct aid to individuals and families and another $440 billion in aid to businesses. (Gangitano, 1/14)

That $1.9 trillion figure is a lot of money, to put it mildly. Congress passed a $900 billion relief program in December, and its package in March was also about $2 trillion. By way of comparison, the major financial crisis spending package — the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 — clocked in around $800 billion. (Smialek, 1/14)

Ten months after the coronavirus crisis decimated the labor market, the resurgent pandemic keeps sending shock waves through the American economy. Though more than half of the 22 million jobs lost last spring have been regained, a new surge of infections has prompted shutdowns and layoffs that have hit the leisure and hospitality industries especially hard, dealing a setback to the recovery. (Ember, 1/14)