BALTIMORE — A single mother of four in Baltimore said the stimulus money will be the lifeline she needs.
Amanda Watkins said this past year has been incredibly tough.
She said she lost her job early on in the pandemic and has been unable to find work ever since.
The job search was even harder because she was pregnant. She recently gave birth to a baby girl.
“Trying to put food on the table for your children, daycare, trying to get back to work. With all of this, the pandemic going on, then you have the school situation; It’s kind of hard,” she said.
The safety net she had hoped to have in her unemployment benefits never came. She’s been waiting to get benefits since June 2020.
“They’re talking about bring them back to school, so we got to figure out where this money coming from just to make sure they have uniforms and stuff to go back to school,” she said.
Like so many families across the country, the pressure to provide for her children only grew by the day.
“And when your bills are still coming in, it’s even harder,” she said.
The struggles are the reason when she said when she heard the news about the passing of the latest federal stimulus package, she couldn’t hold in her excitement.
“I definitely was jumping around with excitement,” she said.
Congress passed the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill on Wednesday. It now heads to the desk of President Joe Biden where he is expected to sign it into law on Friday.
Watkins said the money is going to go a long way, helping her pay bills and put food on the table.
The relief check will give her and many other families the peace of mind they desperately needed.
“We definitely need that stimulus money to help us out with all of our children,” she said.
Stimulus checks are expected to start going out as soon as next week.
