House set to take up $1.9 trillion stimulus

WASHINGTON >> House lawmakers are set to vote as soon as today on a roughly $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package, putting President Joe Biden on track to sign his first major legislative accomplishment into law by the end of the week.

Democrats in the chamber are expected to approve the bill — which includes a dramatic expansion of pandemic aid and federal safety net programs — despite changes to critical elements of the stimulus adopted by the Senate over the weekend.

Dubbed the American Rescue Plan, the package authorizes $1,400 checks to millions of low- and middleincome Americans, bolsters families by providing new child tax benefits, boosts unemployment payments for workers still out of a job and authorizes a wide array of additional programs in an attempt to shepherd a swift, equal recovery to one of the worst economic crises in a generation.

The timeline puts Congress on track to adopt the stimulus package before millions of Americans are set to lose unemployment benefits on March 14. And it also opens the door for the U.S. government to start sending one-time checks to a large number of families “by the end of the month,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday.

Biden, for his part, is set to appear at a veterans medical center Monday in what is shaping up to be a week of coronavirus-related events. He also aims to give his first national televised address Thursday night that is expected to touch on the emergency coronavirus aid, Psaki said at her daily briefing.