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Bloomberg
House sends aid bill to Biden and checks to US pocketbooks
(Bloomberg) – President Joe Biden’s $ 1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief bill passed its final hurdle in Congress on Wednesday, with the House passing the bill by a vote of 220 to 211, l ‘sending to the president for his signature. sprint of nearly two months from when Biden first unveiled his US bailout, through tough negotiations in the Senate until its final approval, much of it in the form first proposed. Biden plans to sign the bill on Friday. The bill is a major political victory for the new president, flaunting his influence over a Democratic party controlling Congress by the slimmest of margins. At the same time, the partisan divide over the bill foreshadows the difficulty Biden will have in implementing the longer-term, multibillion-dollar economic agenda he wants later this year. will receive direct payments of $ 1,400, with the money starting to come out within days. The bill provides for new health insurance subsidies and child tax credits, while extending additional unemployment benefits by $ 300 per week until September. There’s also $ 360 billion for state and local governments, a bailout for struggling union pensions, and funds to speed up vaccinations and school reopens. $ 1.9 trillion “I join President Biden in his pledge: Help is on the way,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said at the end of the debate, noting that the vote took place in the day before the first anniversary of the coronavirus declared a pandemic and recounting the record it has made in the United States. “This legislation puts nearly $ 1 trillion in the pockets of the American people.” Biden is planning a prime-time speech on Thursday “to talk about what we went through as a nation last year,” he said at a White House event on Wednesday. “But more importantly, I’ll talk about what’s next. I will kick off the next phase of the Covid response and explain what we will do as a government and what we will ask of the American people. There is light at the end of this dark tunnel. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a statement Wednesday: “There will still be tough months ahead, but ultimately this law will help eliminate the immediate crisis before our eyes.” , and let’s start building a better post-Covid future. The Biden administration and Democrats are embarking on a coordinated campaign that will include the president and vice president to raise awareness and support the legislation by highlighting 10 ways they say it will help Americans, the deputy chief of staff said. White House Jen O’Malley Dillon, in a note on Wednesday, U.S. stocks hit record highs in February as investors anticipated passage of the stimulus bill, then fell at the end of this month to amid concerns about a surge in bond yields. T-bill yields have stabilized in recent sessions, helping the notch of the S&P 500 Index to post the best consecutive daily gains in a month on Wednesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average hit a record high, closing above 32,000 for the first time Relief legislation passed without a single Republican vote in the House or Senate, unlike the five previous bipartisan Covid-19 bills passed under President Donald Trump, before the pandemic began to recede amid the current vaccination campaign, Representative Jared Golden of Maine was the only Democrat to vote. He also voted against the version passed in the House earlier. Republicans criticized Biden, Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer for rejecting more modest proposals. With the economy already on the rebound, they said the aid bill was excessive and will increase financial risks. “You can’t just keep adding mountains of debt to hundreds of billions at a time” without consequence, said Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the House’s No. 2 Republican. “When you look at President Pelosi’s priorities, it is to spend as much money as quickly as possible on her socialist program.” Republicans have particularly opposed the more than $ 360 billion in public and local funds provided when many states fail to show up. any loss of income during the pandemic. Florida Senator Rick Scott has called on governors and majors to return any funding to Washington in excess of “Covid-19-related expenses reimbursable by the federal government.” The bill is much larger than Wall Street’s initial expectations. which could be accomplished in a tightly divided Congress. This week, economists upped their growth forecasts to incorporate the impact. Morgan Stanley on Tuesday raised its forecast for US economic growth for 2021 to 7.3%, a pace unmatched since the Korean War boom in 1951. An additional $ 476 billion to come in 2022. Aid is intended for Americans the least paid. A study by the Center for Fiscal Policy found that the incomes of the lowest fifth of employees will increase by 20%, the highest among income groups. This will help speed up the flow of money into the economy, as those in the lower brackets spend more of their budgets on basic household needs, including health care, food and clothing. Morning Consult commissioned by Bloomberg News, much higher than the previous stimulus money. About the same proportion said they would buy food, and a quarter cited housing payments. “It will likely hit the books before the end of the month,” said Aneta Markowska, chief economist at Jefferies LLC. It revised its forecast in mid-February, putting the United States on track to achieve full employment by next summer. “Not only is this paid for quickly, it is actually spent very quickly.” The bill provides a model for a potential longer-term expansion of an American social safety net that has long been much smaller than its European counterparts. Democrats say the temporary nearly $ 110 billion expansion of the child tax credit will help cut child poverty in half, while the unemployment benefit tax rebate and unemployment benefit relief student debt will help millions more. On behalf of the American people since the Great Depression, ”said Democratic House Caucus vice-chair Pete Aguilar of California. program, as well as ambitious plans for an immigration bill, voting reform, war powers reform or gun security measures. Such legislation is likely to be largely ineligible for the Senate fast-track procedure used to bypass a Republican filibuster known as budget reconciliation. “It’s a bad start, and it will be a lot harder to get things done,” said one veteran. Oklahoma Republican lawmaker Tom Cole, who claimed GOP members could have ended up supporting up to $ 900 billion in relief. “I hope we can find some common ground, but I’m just looking at the legislation they keep raising.” Democrats retort Republicans are dusting off their playbook from more than a decade ago when they criticize the Obama administration for spending deficit, with a lackluster recovery, helped take control of the House in 2010 “Partisanship is at a high level within the House of Congress because Republicans have chosen obstruction over cooperation,” said Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the No. 4 House Democrat. the stimulus bill, and in particular the direct payments which were first championed by Trump, are being used by Democrats in their attempt to challenge historic trends in the midterm election by retaining the House in 2022 “proactive fiscal expansion,” it is far from clear that this will last, Morgan Stanley analysts led by Michael Zezas wrote in a March 10 report. long-term trend, as a change of power in the midterm elections and / or a resurgence of popular concern over deficits could derail the trend beyond this year, ”Morgan’s team wrote Stanley. articles like this please visit us at bloomberg.com Subscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted source of business news. © 2021 Bloomberg LP
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