Thursday, President Joe Biden signed the “American Rescue Plan” into law. It extends unemployment benefits, adds billion to rental assistance and offers more aid to small businesses.
It also makes way for individual $1,400 stimulus checks, which could land in bank accounts this weekend.
It’s relief some North Texans say can’t come soon enough.
Among them is Lancaster resident Ashley Caston.
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“It’s everything from the light bill to the grocery bill to whatever you can imagine,” said Caston.
At the same time, the money coming in has been in short supply.
After her husband contracted COVID-19, he missed weeks of work and weeks of a paycheck. Then, an injury extended his time away.
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Caston said both also lost their opportunity for overtime, which they’d long relied on.
"We're not going to rest in this season. We're going to have to work two times as harder. And that's ok. It's ok,” said Caston.
When she wasn’t working or helping the kids learn from home, Caston poured everything into a cleaning service startup.
"It's been an opportunity for us not to go under, for us to continue to pay our bills every month, for us to continue to feed our children, for us to put gas in our cars, for us just to live,” said Caston.
Still, it’s been difficult to make ends meet.
That's why she says she was relieved to see Biden sign a $1.9 trillion aid package into law.
The stimulus check will provide a boost for Caston to put toward her next payroll.
Still, she said it only goes so far.
“We’ll make do with whatever we're blessed with,” said Caston.
