From the Office of the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, Janet L. Yellen:
The numbers may not immediately reflect it, but today was a pivotal day for the American economy, U.S. Treasury Secretary, Janet L. Yellen, said earlier regarding the passing of the historic stimulus legislation.
From the time the pandemic began up until this very week, the economic data has contained deep pockets of pain, Yellen went on to say. Roughly 18 million people are still receiving unemployment insurance, and nearly one million of the families relying on it say their children don’t have enough to eat.
Upon taking office, Secretary Yellen said she was worried that many of these families would be haunted by the COVID economy long after the health emergency was over. “We know that when the foundations of someone’s life collapse – when they lose a small business, or the roof over their head, or the ability to eat dinner every night – it can scar them permanently; their ability to earn is forever lowered. I worried this would happen on a mass scale, but now I am confident that it won’t,” the head of the U.S. Treasury Department put in a prepared statement.
With the passage of the American Rescue Plan, Yellen believes Americans will emerge from the pandemic with the foundations of their lives intact, and that is an enormous economic and moral achievement for America, she believes. “Indeed, we are now charting a very different course out of this crisis compared to the one a decade ago. Rather than a long, slow recovery, I expect we could reach full employment by as soon as next year,” she continued.
Yellen assured the American people that the Treasury team will be doing everything it can to accelerate the recovery, and they are ready to get to work implementing the measures in the Rescue Plan, including economic impact payments of $1,400 per taxpayer and each of their dependents, expanded child tax credits, help for struggling renters and homeowners, and support for state, local and tribal governments.
She assured that while there will still be tough months ahead, eventually, this law will help clear away the immediate crisis in front of us and allow us all to start building a better post-COVID future.