For Connecticut’s all-Democratic delegation in the U.S. House, the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, which is expected to become law, will finally bring enough relief to alleviate the economic distress from the coronavirus pandemic.

As the House prepared to give final approval to the latest COVID-19 stimulus package, Connecticut's delegates held a virtual news conference Tuesday to discuss what’s in the legislation, from stimulus checks and jobless benefits to funding for vaccine distribution and reopening schools.

Their message: Help is on the way.

“It meets the moment,” said U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3rd District. “It provides bold economic relief and we ensure that we are answering the calls for help from the hardworking people of Connecticut.”

While many states, including Connecticut, are making plans to reopen businesses and schools and loosen pandemic-related restrictions as more people get vaccinated and cases, hospitalizations and deaths continue to trend downward, the economic crisis is accelerating, DeLauro said.

Connecticut lost 100,000 net jobs over the last year, and 139,000 residents are currently out of work, she said.

Not a single Republican in the Senate voted for the measure, which was also not expected to receive any GOP support in the House. The House was expected to vote Wednesday on the legislation, which President Joe Biden is expected to sign within a matter of hours of it passing.

“It’s eye-watering in terms of the scope of help that’s going to be materializing really within a matter of days,” said U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District.

Connecticut is expected to get more than $4 billion in state and local aid, with $2.7 billion allotted to the state and $1.6 billion to cities and towns to make up for lost tax revenue as a result of the pandemic. The bill directs states to distribute the local aid within 30 days of receiving it from the U.S. Treasury Department.

In total, if you add up the stimulus checks that many Connecticut residents will receive with other funding sources in the bill, more than $10 billion in aid is likely coming to the state, said U.S. Rep. John Larson, D-1st District.

“When you look at this package and see the scope and see its impact on the middle and working classes all across this great country, you get to understand the depth and the significance and why this is going to be such an important bill,” Larson said.

The legislation includes:

[naviga:ul]

[naviga:li]$1,400-per-person checks for individuals earning up to $75,000 per year and couples earning up to $150,000[/naviga:li]

[naviga:li]temporarily expands the child tax credit to $3,000 for children ages 6 to 17 and $3,600 for children under age 6[/naviga:li]

[naviga:li]extends the existing $300 weekly unemployment benefit through Sept. 6.[/naviga:li]

[/naviga:ul]

Last week, more than 748,000 Americans filed for unemployment benefits for the first time.

“Not once during the Great Recession did first-time unemployment claims ever exceed 700,000,” Courtney said, adding that earlier in pandemic the number of Americans filing first-time unemployment claims was much greater than 748,000.  

The bill includes about $130 billion in education funding. U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes, D-5th District, a former educator, said that money can be used for personal protective equipment for staff and students, reducing class sizes, hiring counselors and nurses to help students with physical and emotional disabilities, and updating ventilation systems, among other possibilities.

“Those are some of the things people can do immediately, but long term, we can put in place comprehensive after-school programs, summer learning programs, extended day programs so as our students return, we can make sure that we have the supports and structures in place,” she said.

The Democrats dismissed criticism that the bill, which is more than twice the size of the Obama administration’s stimulus following the Great Recession, significantly adds to the national debt, saying the cost of passing a relief package that was too small would be far greater.

U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, D-4th District, said there was “massive pushback” against more expensive proposals to restart the economy after the Great Recession, so Congress passed an “inadequate” measure, and the result was a slow recovery in the years to follow.

“We are not going too small this time,” he said. “Eminent economists all over the place are saying ‘Do this deal to recover the economy ... Once you've recovered and the economy is growing, that's the moment to think about addressing the deficit.'"

j.bergman@theday.com