With a promise of "shots in arms and money in pockets", US President Joe Biden on Monday kicked off a week of promotion and travel to herald and explain the $1.9 trillion Covid-19 pandemic relief bill he signed into law last week
Mr Biden will be accompanied by Vice President Kamala Harris and first lady Jill Biden when he travels to various states this week as part of what the White House is calling the "Help Is Here Tour" to tout measures that include a $1,400 cheque for most US households.
"Help is here, and hope is here, in real and tangible ways," Mr Biden said.
Mr Biden said his administration would reach two important goals over the next 10 days: 100 million shots in people's arms and 100 million cheques in people's pockets or bank accounts.
"Shots in arms and money in pockets. That's important. The American Rescue Plan is already doing what it was designed to do: make a difference in people's everyday lives. And we're just getting started," Mr Biden said.
The legislation was Mr Biden's first legislative priority upon taking office in January. His fellow Democrats used narrow majorities in the House of Representatives and Senate to pass a large measure of what Mr Biden originally proposed without Republican support.
Democrats regard the bill as good policy and good politics.
Opinion polls show support for efforts to shore up the coronavirus vaccination campaign, prepare schools to reopen and ease poverty after a year-long pandemic that has killed more than 535,000 people in the country and put millions out of work.
Republicans, who broadly supported coronavirus relief early in the crisis when Republican Donald Trump was president, have called the latest measure an overpriced collection of pet projects unrelated to the pandemic.
The White House has said it does not believe former president Barack Obama's administration, in which Mr Biden served as vice president, did enough to promote its more than $800 billion 2009 economic rescue programme.
Democrats went on to lose control of the House to Republicans the next year.
Former top US economic adviser Gene Sperling will oversee the Biden administration's implementation of the stimulus plan.
Mr Sperling, who advised Mr Biden's presidential campaign and served under former Democratic presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, will work with officials across the administration, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters.
Mr Biden announced the move at a White House event, calling Mr Sperling a "gifted manager" who would ensure that the rescue plan was implemented fastidiously.
"He's ready to get to work. In fact, he's already hit the ground running," Mr Biden said.
"Together, we're going to make sure the benefits of the American Rescue Plan go out quickly and directly to the American people, where they belong."
Ms Psaki said Mr Sperling would work closely with White House policy councils and key leaders at federal agencies "so we can get funds out the door quickly, maximise its impact, accelerate the work that the administration is doing to crush Covid and rescue our economy".
Taking their case directly to the people, Ms Harris travelled to Las Vegas on Monday, while Mr Biden goes to Delaware County, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday and Atlanta on Friday.
He will also do an interview on Wednesday on ABC's Good Morning America programme.
Mr Biden defeated Mr Trump in the election battleground states of Nevada, Pennsylvania and Georgia in the 2020 presidential election.
Each state will also feature a competitive US Senate race in 2022. Losing only one seat in that chamber could all but doom Mr Biden's legislative agenda, handing Senate control to Republicans for the rest of the president's four-year term.
At least two outside political spending groups that backed Biden's presidential bid, Priorities USA and Unite the Country, said they would put millions of dollars into advertisements supporting the stimulus measure.
Priorities USA said its ads would partly focus on voters who flipped from supporting Mr Trump in 2016 to Mr Biden in 2020, in "2022 battleground states" including Georgia, Nevada and Pennsylvania.
