Congress OKs $1.9T virus relief bill in win for Dems

WASHINGTON — A Congress riven along party lines approved a landmark $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill Wednesday, as President Joe Biden and Democrats claimed a triumph on a bill that marshals the government's spending might against t win pandemic and economic crises that have upended a nation.

The House gave final congressional approval to the sweeping package by a near party line 220-211 vote precisely seven weeks after Biden entered the White House and four days after the Senate passed the bill. Republicans in both chambers opposed the bill unanimously, characterizing it as bloated, crammed with liberal policies and heedless of signs the crises are easing.

“Help is here ,” Bid en tweeted moments after the roll call, which ended with applause from Democratic lawmakers. Biden said he'd sign the measure Friday.

Most notice able to many Americans are provisions providing up to $1,400 direct payments this year to most adults and extending $300 weekly emergency unemployment benefits into early September. But the legislation goes far beyond that.

The measure addresses Democrats' campaign promises and Bid en' s top initial priority of easing a one-two punch that first hit the country a year ago. Since t hen, many Americans have been relegated to hermit-like lifestyles in their homes to avoid a disease that' s killed over 5 25, 000 people — about the population of Wichita, Kansas — and plunged the economy to its deepest depths since the Great Depression.