S president elect Joe Biden unveiled a nearly $2 trillion cove in 19 relief plan on Thursday, urging lawmakers to act fast and jump start an economy pummeled by the pandemic.

Crisis of deep human suffering is in plain sight.

There's no time to waste.

We have to act.

We have to act now.

The aid package includes some $1 trillion in direct relief toe households and roughly $440 billion for small businesses and communities particularly hard hit by the crisis for the unemployed.

Benefits would increase from 300 to $400 a week and a pause on evictions and home repossessions would be extended until September.

Biden also pledged to vaccinate 100 million Americans in his 1st 100 days in office.

His plan stands in sharp contrast to Trump, who spent the last few months focusing on undermining Biden's election victory instead of controlling the pandemic.

I know what I just described does not come cheaply.

Failure to do so will cost us dearly.

The consensus among leading economists is we simply can not afford not to do what I'm proposing.

But Biden is likely to face challenges from congressional Republicans, who have balked at the rising price tag for further Covic relief.

That includes the proposal of adding $1400 in direct payments for all Americans on top of the $600 payments that were handed out in the last relief bill passed in December.

But Biden will be helped by fellow Democrats now controlling both chambers.

He must now try to pass the stimulus legislation even as Trump faces an impeachment trial, which threatens to loom over the beginning of his term.

Transition officials say Biden's plan will be followed up with another recovery package in the coming weeks, which will include funds to help with rent and utilities mhm.