House voting on coronavirus relief bill
Democrats mull wage plan rescue
A $1.9 trillion package aimed at helping the country rebuild from the pandemic seemed headed toward House passage, even as Democrats searched for a way to revive their derailed drive to boost the minimum wage.
A virtual party-line House vote was expected on the COVID-19 relief measure, which embodies President Biden’s push to flush cash to individuals, businesses, states and cities. The White House issued a statement reinforcing its support for the new president’s paramount initial goal.
“The bill would allow the administration to execute its plan to change the course of the COVID-19 pandemic,” it said. “And it would provide Americans and their communities an economic bridge through the crisis.”
Republicans have lined up against the plan, calling it an overpriced and wasteful attempt to help Democratic allies like labor unions and Democratic-run states.
The bill is “a partisan circus” designed to “quickly notch some wins for the president’s buddies,” said Rep. Jason Smith, R-Mo., top Republican on the House Budget Committee.
That’s making the fight a showdown over which party voters will reward for approving added federal spending to combat the coronavirus and revive the economy, on top of $4 trillion previously passed. The pandemic has killed a halfmillion Americans, thrown millions out of work and reconfigured the daily lives of nearly everyone from coast to coast.
The battle is also emerging as an early test of Biden’s ability to hold together his party’s fragile congressional majorities — just 10 votes in the House and an evenly divided 50-50 Senate.
At the same time, Democrats were trying to figure out how to respond to their jarring setback Thursday in the Senate.
That chamber’s nonpartisan parliamentarian, Elizabeth MacDonough, said Senate rules require that a federal minimum wage increase would have to be dropped from the COVID19 bill, leaving the proposal on life support. The measure. if included, would gradually lift that minimum to $15 hourly by 2025, doubling the current $7.25 floor in effect since 2009.