VP Kamala Harris Travels To Florida Monday To Promote $1.9T Rescue Plan

Vice President Kamala Harris traveled to Florida on Monday to promote how President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan will help residents and businesses recover from COVID-19-related hardships.

Harris left Washington for Jacksonville late Monday morning after she swore in Isabella Casillas Guzman as head of the U.S. Small Business Administration.

At about 2:30 p.m. EDT, the vice president will visit a federal vaccination center in the city. Since taking office, Biden's administration has ramped up vaccine distribution by creating the federal facilities nationwide.

About an hour later, she will meet with leaders at Feeding Northeast Florida, according to her White House schedule, and return to Washington in the evening.

Monday's is Harris' first trip to Jacksonville since a campaign visit last October.

Part of the administration's "Help is Here" tour to promote the rescue plan, Harris' visit aims to demonstrate how the ARP aids small businesses and residents, many of whom have already received a $1,400 stimulus payment. The plan also includes money to support the federal vaccination sites and help reopen schools.

Harris traveled to Las Vegas and Denver last week to promote the plan and Biden visited the Philadelphia area. Both leaders originally intended to visit Atlanta on Friday as part of the recovery plan, but the trip instead became one of support after shooting attacks at three spas killed eight people.

The trip to Florida is partly strategic. The state voted for former President Donald Trump last November and the state's two Republican senators in Washington, D.C., have publicly opposed the relief package, which didn't receive a single Republican vote in Congress.

"Democrats in Washington can't keep ignoring America's debt crisis and the toll it will take on America's families and businesses," Sen. Rick Scott said in a statement last week.

"We could have had a $1,400 checks and increased the child tax credit without sending stimulus checks to prisoners and illegal immigrants, spend $86 billion on an unrelated pension bailout and use your tax dollars to fund Planned Parenthood and abortions," Sen. Marco Rubio added.

No illegal immigrants were given stimulus payments under Biden's plan.