USA TODAY International Edition
$ 1.9T aid package gets final approval
Bill with $ 1,400 checks, jobless benefits heads to Biden’s desk
WASHINGTON – The Democratcontrolled House gave its final approval to President Joe Biden’s $ 1.9 trillion COVID- 19 relief package Wednesday, sending the bill with $ 1,400 checks, billions to help schools and colleges reopen and funding for vaccine distribution to the president for his signature.
The bill sailed through the House despite complaints from liberal Democrats that too many concessions were made to the moderates when the bill passed the Senate on Saturday. The final vote was 220- 211 – one Democrat voted against the bill, and all Republicans opposed it.
The House vote was the final legislative hurdle for the legislation. It goes to Biden, who will sign the bill into law Friday, the White House said.
Its passage caps months of negotiations, beginning when Biden introduced his plan in mid- January before he took office. Along the way, the bill faced united opposition from Republicans and misgivings from moderate Democrats and liberals.
The measure’s approval will be a milestone in Biden’s presidency, one hinging on his ability to lead the nation out of the COVID- 19 pandemic that has killed more than 528,000 people in the USA and decimated the economy. Democrats said it is one of the largest antipoverty bills in a generation, aiming to deliver on Biden’s promise to send aid to millions of Americans grappling with the effects of the COVID- 19 pandemic.
“This legislation is about giving the backbone of this nation – the essential workers, the working people who built this country, the people who keep this country going – a fighting chance,” Biden said in a statement after the vote.
Biden “promised that help is on the way, and he has been determined to keep that promise,” Vice President Kamala Harris said.
The nonpartisan Urban Institute estimated the bill would reduce the poverty rate to 8.7% this year, compared with a national rate of 13.7% without the bill, and reduce the disparities in poverty among Black and Latino communities compared with white Americans.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, DCalif., praised the bill as part of Biden’s legacy, calling it the “Biden American Rescue Plan.” She said it might not be the final relief bill, depending on the duration of the fight against the virus.
“We will get to work immediately to deliver lifesaving resources springing from this bill as soon as it is passed and signed as we join President Biden … in his promise that at last help is on the way,” she said.
The $ 1.9 trillion legislation will provide most Americans earning less than $ 75,000 a year a $ 1,400 check, provide billions for vaccine distribution and development, allocate aid for schools to reopen, and expand a child tax credit to up to $ 3,600 per child. Passage of the bill came before a Sunday deadline when a federal boost to unemployment benefits was set to expire.
The Senate passed the legislation last weekend after a marathon all- night debate in which both sides tried to make last- minute changes to the bill.
The House first passed the relief plan at the end of February, but the Senate changes meant the bill had to return to the House one last time. The final passage of the bill Wednesday was briefly delayed after Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R- Ga., made an unsuccessful attempt to force the entire House to adjourn.
Republicans unified against the bill in the House and the Senate, denouncing it as full of provisions unrelated to COVID- 19 relief. They questioned whether another package was needed months after Congress passed more than $ 900 billion in relief in December. All previous COVID- 19 relief packages passed with bipartisan support.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R- Calif., criticized the bill as a “laundry list of left- wing priorities that predate the pandemic and do not meet the needs of American families.” Democrats stayed mostly united as they made a series of compromises within their party to secure support from its moderate and far- left wings.
To appease moderate senators, they lowered the weekly boost to federal unemployment benefits from $ 400 to $ 300. They set tighter limits on who gets $ 1,400 checks, leaving out Americans who make more than $ 80,000 annually. A provision raising the federal minimum wage was dropped from the bill after the Senate parliamentarian ruled the provision violated Senate rules.
Liberals tout priorities that made it in the bill, such as billions in aid for state and local governments, a one- year child tax credit expansion and funding for schools and colleges to reopen.
Among the bill’s provisions:
● $ 1,400 checks for most Americans earning up to $ 75,000.
● An extension of a $ 300 weekly federal boost to unemployment benefits through August.
● $ 350 billion to state and local governments whose revenue declined because of COVID- 19’ s impact on the economy.
● $ 130 billion to help fully reopen schools and colleges.
● $ 30 billion to help renters and landlords weather economic losses.
● $ 50 billion for small- business assistance.
● $ 160 billion for vaccine development, distribution and related needs.
● An expansion of the child tax credit up to $ 3,600 per child.