US House to Approve Joe Biden’s $ 1.9 Billion Covid Relief Plan | House of Representatives

The House of Representatives is set to definitively approve Joe Biden’s $ 1.9 billion coronavirus stimulus and relief package, a huge aid package the president has said is essential to get the United States out pandemic and revive their struggling economy.

If passed by the House on Wednesday, as Democratic leaders expect, Biden’s presidency’s first major legislative initiative will rush aid to families struggling with a year-long public health crisis and provide the most generous expansion of aid to low-income Americans in a generation.

It will send out-of-pocket payments of up to $ 1,400 to most Americans, expand aid to state, local and tribal governments, provide federal grants to those struggling to pay for health insurance, shelter and food and provide money to boost the distribution and testing of the Covid-19 vaccine and to reopen schools safely.

Economists predict that as one of the largest emergency bailouts in U.S. history, the U.S. bailout (ARP) will accelerate economic recovery, boosting growth to levels not seen in recent years. decades and dramatically reducing the number of people living in poverty.

According to one estimate, the ARP could cut child poverty in half, thanks to an extension of a tax credit for families with children that many Democrats want to make permanent.

House Democrats, who hold a slim majority, were confident the measure would pass Wednesday morning, despite Senate changes that threatened to alienate some progressives.

New York Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, said he was “110 percent confident” of being successful. Once passed by the House, the invoice will be sent to Biden for signature.

The Senate passed the bill on Saturday in a 50-49 vote, with Democrats overcoming the Unified Republican opposition and a last-minute objection by West Virginia’s Joe Manchin, a member of their own party.

The package submitted to the House on Wednesday was more restricted than Biden’s original proposal, which included progressive priorities that were subsequently either removed or reduced to appease moderates like Manchin, which echoed Republicans fearing the injection of l aid is too much in an economy showing signs of recovery.

A provision to raise the federal minimum wage to $ 15 an hour has been ruled ineligible as part of a budget process used by Democrats to bypass Republican opposition.

The Senate-approved version tightens eligibility for stimulus checks and restructures a proposal for unemployment benefits that Biden hoped to increase to $ 400 a week. Under the new plan, unemployment benefits will remain at $ 300 per week, but will be extended until early September rather than August. The first $ 10,200 of supplements starting in 2020 will be tax exempt.

Although disappointed with some of the amendments, Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, called them “relatively minor concessions” and said the overall package remained “really progressive and bold.”

Republicans say the plan is overkill and does not match the economic and public health outlook as more Americans are vaccinated and states move to reopen businesses and schools. They also rekindled fears that the package would increase the national debt, concerns they put aside under Donald Trump.

“We know for sure that this includes provisions which are not targeted, which are not temporary, which are not related to Covid and that that was not necessarily the case,” said the congresswoman from Wyoming, Liz Cheney, Speaker of the Republican House Conference. . “We could have had a bill that was only a fraction of the cost of it, it could have gotten bipartisan approval and support.”

The extraordinary price is just below the $ 2.2 billion coronavirus relief bill signed by Donald Trump at the start of the pandemic last March. It will be the sixth spending bill passed by Congress to deal with the devastation caused by the dual health and economic crisis, and it is set to be the first to pass without bipartisan support despite Biden’s campaign pledge to work with Republicans.

Yet the lack of consensus in Washington belies its popularity with voters from all political backgrounds and with local and state officials from both parties. Encouraged by a poll that shows broad public support for the bill, Biden and Democrats argued the plan was bipartisan.

The bill’s final passage will come a day before Biden delivers his first prime-time speech on Thursday, marking the first anniversary after sweeping public health measures were introduced to try to control the spread of the Covid-virus. 19 that killed nearly 525,000 Americans and damaged the economy.

Although vaccine distribution is increasing dramatically and the economy is showing signs of improvement, Democrats say the recovery is shaky and uneven and low-income Americans still need help. Millions of Americans remain unemployed, with the poorest hit hardest.

“This not only brings us to the other side of this crisis, but it is really starting to heal the wounds caused by this crisis,” said Steny Hoyer, the Democratic majority leader in the House.

After Biden signs the bill, he and other senior officials will continue to promote the plan to the American public, as part of a push by the new administration to ensure Democrats receive credit for it. an economic recovery ahead of the 2022 congressional midterm elections.

“We certainly recognize that we cannot just sign a bill,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters on Tuesday. “We will have to do some work and use our best voices, including the president, vice president and others, to communicate to the American people the benefits of this package.”

Unlike his predecessor, Biden’s signature will not appear on the note line of stimulus checks sent to Americans, Psaki said. “It’s not about him,” she added. “It’s about relieving the American people.”