Biden's massive, historic stimulus relief bill passes

Biden's Massive, Historic Stimulus Relief Bill Passes | US Politics In :60 | GZERO Media

Jon Lieber, Managing Director of the United States for the Eurasia Group, shares his perspective on the historic American Relief Act:

The American Relief Act just passed. Joe Biden's big $1.9 trillion stimulus has now passed the Senate and the House of Representatives and is on its way to the president's desk to be signed into law. This is a massive, historic piece of legislation on top of already $3 trillion in stimulus that Congress has provided to respond to the novel coronavirus. Here's another almost $2 trillion, that two thirds of which will be spent in this calendar year.


So, there's a couple of things we're watching. First, stimulus checks are going to start hitting Americans bank accounts as soon as next week. This will give additional spending power to a lot of Americans and probably helps make this bill a very popular piece of legislation. Second, there's a question over how many of these pieces that are in this bill will be extended in future acts. There's an expansion of the child tax credit, an expansion of the earned income tax credit, an expansion of unemployment insurance, which in the last crisis, in the global financial crisis, was extended 12 times by Congress in various acts. This round of unemployment benefits expires in September. We'll see if Congress wants to extend that again. Probably depends on how bad the unemployment situation is at the time.

Finally, one thing that's really important to watch for is inflation. This bill is so big and it's coming on top of an economy that looks like it's going to be red hot, with the economic reopening's happening in the spring as the coronavirus fades in the rearview mirror, that it could potentially be inflationary. This will be a problem because it could lead the Fed to tap the brakes, raise interest rates a little bit, and that would put downward pressure on Congress's ability to do a future stimulus bill in the form of an infrastructure bill, which Biden has said he wants to do in order to drive a green energy transformation. Now, that money will be spent over a longer period of time and very likely will be offset by tax increases. But any negative consequences coming out of this bill could potentially slow that bill down or shrink it in size. Overwhelming likelihood is, though, that this bill is going to help the economy a lot this year, going to get money to a lot of people who need it. And if they don't need it, they really want it. This could be a very popular piece of legislation that could potentially change the way the US does cash transfer payments to low-income households if those provisions are extended.

More from GZERO Media

Members of Syrian security forces ride on a back of a truck after Syrian troops entered the predominantly Druze city of Sweida on Tuesday following two days of clashes, in Sweida, Syria July 15, 2025.
REUTERS

Deadly sectarian violence in Syria escalates, leaving over 350 dead. Tensions between Sunni Arabs, Druze, Alawites, Kurds, and Christians threaten post-war stability.

The number of people newly eligible to vote in the next election because of the decision to lower the voting age to 16.
Riley Callanan

In a move meant in part to boost sagging voter turnout, the UK government has lowered the voting age from 18 to 16 for the next round of national elections.

For many of us, the idea of a space-based arm of the military calls to mind images from science fiction. But the real-life world of space defense has become increasingly integral to military operations on land, at sea, and in the air. In this episode of Next Giant Leap, hosts Mike Massimino and Mike Greenley explore the world of space military technology. Guests Major General (Ret.) Kim Crider formerly of the United States Space Force, and Brigadier-General Chris Horner of the Canadian Space Division walk us through the many innovations in this fascinating arena, and attempt to answer one crucial question: how do you secure a domain with no borders?

- YouTube

At the 2025 AI for Good Summit in Geneva, GZERO’s Tony Maciulis sat down with AI educator and content creator Natalie Choprasert, whose mission is to make artificial intelligence more accessible to everyday business owners.

 Jair Bolsonaro, Donald Trump, and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

President Lula

US-Brazil relations have been heating up for a bit, but President Donald Trump ratcheted up the temperature on the Lula administration a week ago when he announced that the United States would slap a 50% tariff on all Brazilian imports effective Aug 1.

GZERO Media, a subsidiary of Eurasia Group, is seeking a strategic and detail-oriented Associate Director to join our Digital Operations team. This individual will be responsible for managing client relationships and leading the execution of sponsorship and branded content programs across platforms. The role combines account management, project oversight, and digital strategy, with a strong emphasis on collaboration, innovation, and audience engagement.