‘CRUSH’ THE BUG!
Pols, except GOPers, hail passage of $1.9T stimulus in major victory for Biden
The House gave a final thumbs up on Wednesday to a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill jam-packed with direct aid for workers, businesses and states, handing Joe Biden the first major legislative victory of his presidency as he seeks to beat back the pandemic and rev up the cratering U.S. economy.
The so-called American Rescue Plan — which bankrolls $1,400 stimulus checks to taxpayers among various other relief — passed the Democrat-controlled House in a near-party line 220-to-211 vote, with only one centrist Democrat, Maine Rep. Jared Golden, joining all 210 Republicans in opposition.
Applause and roars erupted in the chamber as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) read the final tally out loud with a wide grin on her face.
“This is the most consequential legislation that many of us will ever be a party to,” Pelosi said at a press conference outside the U.S. Capitol afterward. “On this day, we celebrate.”
The House passage cleared the way for Biden to sign the bill into law, which he said he will do on Friday.
“This is a historic, historic victory for the American people,” he said at an event later in the day focused on COVID-19 vaccine distribution.
Top-line items in the soon-to-be signed bill include the direct stimulus checks and an extension of a $300-per-week federal unemployment supplement set to expire this Sunday.
But the legislation also goes far beyond that, with hundreds of billions of dollars earmarked for coronavirus vaccination and testing, budgetary relief for states, school reopenings, health insurance expansion, rental assistance, food programs and aid for pandemic-ravaged industries, from restaurants and music venues to airlines and hotels.
During a debate before the vote, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) lamented the rigid resistance among Republicans and noted that nearly all of them supported the past five coronavirus relief packages.
“There’s only one thing that’s changed since we passed those first five bills: We now have a Democratic president,” Hoyer said, turning to his GOP colleagues. “The virus is still with us. The economy is struggling, and now we have a Democratic president, so I expect zero of you to vote for this.”
But Republicans claimed they opposed the bill because they considered it too pricey and crammed with progressive policy priorities.
“For those watching, ‘progressive’ means ’socialism,’ ” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said.
Democrats countered that the bill is an appropriate response to a crisis that has killed more than 525,000 Americans and thrown the U.S. economy into its worst state since the Great Depression.
“So much pain, suffering and death and our Republican colleagues want us to do nothing? What is wrong with you?” Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-Brooklyn, Queens) fumed at GOP lawmakers. “We are going to act with the urgency of now. We will crush the coronavirus.”
The House first passed the relief bill last month.
But Senate Democrats made slight tweaks to it before passing it last weekend — also in a party-line vote — necessitating Wednesday’s last signoff.
The $1.9 trillion measure is widely popular among voters. A poll conducted by The Associated Press and the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found last week that 70% of Americans back the bill, including a significant 44% of Republicans.
The package is a big early win for Biden, who campaigned against ex-President Donald Trump on a promise to quickly deliver economic relief and adopt a competent strategy for fighting the pandemic.
But Biden — who prides himself on being able to reach across the aisle — is likely bitter that his signature bill passed Congress without the support of a single Republican in either chamber.
Because of the unanimous GOP opposition, Senate Democrats also had to water down some aspects of the bill to secure passage, including taking out a provision to raise the federal minimum wage to $15-per-hour.
Still, the bill bankrolls $1,400 stimulus checks to taxpayers earning less than $75,000 per year, and $2,800 checks to married couples earning less than $150,000, with an additional $1,400 available for every dependent. Those earning more than $75,000 but less than $80,000 will receive smaller checks, with the same standard applied to couples earning more than $150,000 but less than $160,000.
The $300-per-week unemployment aid boost will be extended through September, and the first $10,200 earned in jobless benefits will be tax-free. The tax exemption is retroactive for any aid collected last year.
There are also $350 billion in budgetary relief for cash-strapped local governments in states like New York, where leaders have long said they’d be forced to raise taxes or enact mass layoffs without federal help.
“This legislation brings us closer to the light at the end of the tunnel,” Gov. Cuomo said after the vote.
The bill includes an especially generous provision for low-income parents.
It increases current child tax breaks to $3,000 for every child older than 6 and $3,600 for every child under 6, as long as beneficiaries don’t earn more than $75,000 individually or more than $150,000 as a couple. The bill proposes to translate the tax break into direct monthly payments, with those who can claim the full benefit eligible for $300 per month per child, starting in July through the end of the year.
The credit, when combined with other aspects of the bill, can reduce childhood poverty in the U.S. by 50%, according to the Center on Poverty and Social Policy at Columbia University.
Republicans complained such generosity will bury future generations in debt. “Their children will have to pay it back,” Rep. Tom Rice (R-S.C.) said.
But Dems noted Republicans never voiced similar concerns when Trump pushed costly bills through Congress, including 2017 tax cuts that largely benefited the rich. “They didn’t hesitate to give large amounts of money to the richest people in America in the Republican tax scam,” Pelosi said.