President Joe Biden signed into law his proposed $1.9 trillion COVID-19 stimulus bill on Thursday, March 11, on the one-year anniversary since the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. Stimulus checks are expected to be sent out to eligible Americans beginning this weekend.

Biden briefly spoke to the press in the Oval Office before signing the American Rescue Plan.

“This historic legislation is about rebuilding the backbone of this country and giving the people of this nation, working people, middle-class folks, the people who built the country, a fighting chance,” explained Biden, “That’s what the essence of it is.”

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki announced in a press conference shortly after the signing that the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service are working to expedite stimulus checks.

“People can expect to start seeing direct deposits hit their bank accounts as early as this weekend. This is of course just the first wave,” stated Psaki.

Given the extensive size of the bill, Psaki announced in a press conference on Wednesday that Biden plans to appoint an official to oversee the rollout of the American Rescue Plan.

“He plans to appoint somebody to run point on implementation. I don’t have any personnel announcements today, but that will certainly be part of our path, moving forward.”

An appointment has not yet been announced as of Thursday afternoon.

Biden previewed what he plans to talk about in his first prime-time speech at an event with Johnson & Johnson CEOs on Wednesday, a company whose COVID-19 vaccine has just been approved by the FDA as the United States’ third coronavirus vaccine.

“I’m going on prime-time to address the American people and talk about what we went through as a nation this past year. But more importantly, I’m going to talk about what comes next. I’m going to launch the next phase of the COVID response and explain what we will do as a government and what we will ask of the American people,” explained Biden.

The president is expected to deliver his speech on Thursday, March 11 at 5 p.m. PST to address the nation on the COVID-19 pandemic a year in. The speech is anticipated to last around 20 minutes and can be live-streamed here.

For more information on Ventura County’s COVID-19 response, visit the Ventura County Recovers website.