US$1.9 trillion Covid plan clears US House, heads to Senate

WASHINGTON: The US House passed an enormous, US$1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package early Saturday, hailed by Democrats as a critical step in funneling new funding toward vaccinations, overburdened local governments, and millions of families devastated by the pandemic.

Four days after the Covid-19 death toll surpassed 500,000 in the United States, the sprawling measure backed by President Joe Biden and seen as a moral imperative by many now heads to the Senate for consideration next week.

“After 12 months of death and despair, the American recovery begins tonight,” congressman Brendan Boyle told the House chamber shortly before lawmakers approved the package on an rare post-midnight vote of 219 to 212.

No Republicans voted for the bill.

The sharply partisan result comes weeks after Biden's January 20 inauguration, when he called for unity in the face of a once-ina-century health crisis.

The package cleared the House despite a major setback for Democrats, when a key Senate official ruled Thursday that the final version of the bill cannot include a minimum wage hike.

Biden had campaigned extensively on raising the national minimum wage to US$15 an hour, from a rate of US$7.25 that has stood since 2009.

He aimed to include it in the rescue plan, which directly provides US$1,400 checks to most Americans and allots billions of dollars to boost vaccine delivery, help schools re-open and fund state and local governments.

It extends unemployment benefits, set to expire mid-March, by about six months, as well as a moratorium on evictions for millions of people struggling to pay rent.

The bill is on track to be the second largest US stimulus ever, after the $2 trillion package Donald Trump signed last March to fight the pandemic's devastating spread.

Even as the Senate parliamentarian ruled against including the minimum wage language in the bill as written under budget reconciliation rules, Democrats kept the provision, highlighting their “fight for 15” as a top party priority. “We will not rest until we pass the US$15 minimum wage,” Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said.

Even without the wage hike, she said the bill was critical and it would be “catastrophic” if it does not become law.

“The American people need to know that their government is there for them,” she told the chamber.

“As President Biden has said, help is on the way.”