Biden hails passage of $1.9T bill in House

WASHINGTON — The House approved a $1.9 trillion pandemic relief bill that was championed by President Joe Biden, the first step in providing another dose of aid to a weary nation as the measure now moves to a tense Senate.

“We have no time to waste,” Biden said at the White House after the House passage early Saturday. “We act now — decisively, quickly and boldly — we can finally get ahead of this virus. We can finally get our economy moving again. People in this country have suffered far too much for too long.”

The new president’s vision for infusing cash across a struggling economy to individuals, businesses, schools, states and cities battered by COVID-19 passed on a near party-line 219-212 vote. But the road ahead in the Senate is far bumpier, with a thicket of arcane rules and a one-vote margin of control threatening to imperil crucial aspects of the plan as Democrats rush to deliver it to Biden’s desk within two weeks.

Democrats said that mass unemployment and the half-million American lives lost are causes to act. GOP lawmakers, they said, were out of step with a public that polling finds largely views the bill favorably.

“This is what America needs. Republicans, you ought to be a part of this. But if you’re not, we’re going without you,” Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., said Friday.

Republicans said the bill was too expensive and laden with gifts to Democratic constituencies such as labor unions.

“To my colleagues who say this bill is bold, I say it’s bloated,” said House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. “To those who say it’s urgent, I say it’s unfocused. To those who say it’s popular, I say it is entirely partisan.”

The overall relief bill would provide $1,400 payments to individuals, extend emergency unemployment benefits through August and increase tax credits for children and federal subsidies for health insurance.

It also provides billions for schools and colleges; state and local governments; COVID-19 vaccines and testing; renters; food producers; and struggling industries such as airlines, restaurants, bars and concert venues.

Biden’s proposal to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025 as part of the plan has run aground because of Senate budgetary rules for the measure that allow it to pass by simple majority vote, bypassing Republican opposition.

Hoping to revive the effort in some form, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., is considering adding a provision to the Senate version of the COVID-19 relief bill that would penalize large companies that don’t pay workers at least $15 an hour.

Republicans oppose the $15 minimum wage target as an expense that would hurt businesses and cost jobs.