Shaheen Statement on President-Elect Biden’s COVID-19 Relief Plan

(Washington, DC) – U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) issued the following statement in response to President-elect Joe Biden’s newly released COVID-19 relief plan:

“When our bipartisan working group delivered the COVID-19 relief plan to congressional leadership, we were clear that our legislation was meant to be interim assistance and that more work would be necessary to help Americans get to the other side of the COVID-19 crisis. The plan unveiled by President-elect Biden is the starting point we need to pick up where we left off so American families, frontline workers, health care providers, small businesses and all those struggling have the assistance they urgently need to get through the dark days ahead,” said Shaheen. “Earlier this week our nation set another devastating record – 4,200 Americans dead from COVID in a single day. This gut-wrenching statistic underscores how critical it is for Congress to immediately resume bipartisan negotiations and to work in good faith with the next administration. President-elect Biden’s proposal – the American Rescue Plan – contains a number of priorities I’ve fought for, including aid for small businesses, COVID-19 mitigation efforts and contact tracing, childcare assistance, expanded unemployment benefits, funding to ramp up vaccine distribution, support to lower health care costs for middle-class families and more. It also responds to urgent needs that unfortunately were not addressed in the previous relief package, including state and local funding and increased direct assistance payments for Americans.”

Shaheen continued, “In the days and weeks ahead, I look forward to working with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle and the Biden administration to advance this plan and also prioritize other areas of concern, including resources to turn the tide of the substance use disorder epidemic—which has been exacerbated by the COVID crisis – and additional support to confront domestic violence, which has spiked since the start of the pandemic. Our communities need help and they need it now – Congress can and must get this done.”