WASHINGTON (AP) — President Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package is being hailed by Democrats and progressive policy advocates as a generational expansion of the social safety net, providing food and housing assistance, greater health care access and direct aid to families with children. It is a broad-based attack on the cycle of poverty. Several aspects seem targeted at restructuring the country’s support system and actually lifting people out of poverty. It’s the kind of ambition and somewhat old school Democratic Party ideal that has observers referencing former President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the New Deal.
COVID relief bill could permanently alter social safety net
