Earlier today, the House of Representatives passed the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, the $1.9 trillion bill that is meant to provide additional relief to the country to address the impacts of the ongoing COVID pandemic. As the Senate approved the measure on Saturday, the bill now heads to President Biden for signing into law; he is expected to sign it on Friday (UPDATE: President Biden signed the bill on Thursday March 11th instead).

As we reported before, included in the bill are funds for the National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Standards & Technology. These emergency, one-time, funds ($600 millions for NSF and $150 million for NIST) are for funding research, “to prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus.”