House Democrats on Friday released the full text of their $ 1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill, which includes a minimum wage increase and another round of direct cash payments to qualified Americans.
“This reconciliation project is the next step in implementing the American Rescue Plan and finally changing the direction of these crises,” said House Budget Committee chairman John Yarmuth in a statement.
Yarmuth, a Democrat from Kentucky, added: “We are in a race against time and aggressive and bold action is needed before our nation is permanently marked by the human and economic costs of inaction. We have the fiscal plan and space, we have the American people are after us, and now we have the account to do that. “
The project also includes $ 350 billion in relief from the state and local government, an extension of $ 400 for federal unemployment benefits, additional money for small businesses, and funding to help reopen schools and distribute vaccines, among other measures.
The 591-page legislation looks a lot like President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan. On Friday, Biden defended the $ 1.9 trillion package size during a speech at a Pfizer plant in Michigan.
“Critics say my plan is too big. It costs $ 1.9 trillion. They say it is too much,” said Biden. “Let me ask them: what do they want me to cut? What do they want me to leave out?”
The president also expressed hope that Republicans in Congress “listen to their voters”, citing polls that show his plan has broad public support on both sides of the corridor. A Quinnipiac University survey earlier this month found that 68% of Americans supported the president’s aid package.
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But so far, the aid package has not had Republican support. On Friday, minority mayor Steve Scalise asked Republicans in an email to vote “no” for the bill, which his office described as “Payoff to Progressives Act” by mayor Nancy Pelosi.
Democrats plan to use the budget reconciliation process to circumvent the Senate obstruction rule and approve the bill by a simple majority.
Proposals for the bill released on Friday have already been approved by individual House committees in recent weeks. The House Budget Committee will meet on Monday to mark the package before handing it over to the Rules Committee. The package is due to be voted on by the entire chamber next week.
Biden and Congressional Democrats are racing to turn the bill into law before the main unemployment benefits expire next month. Pelosi and Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer reiterated this week that they believe they will meet that deadline.
“Please continue to provide feedback and ideas to my office and the Senate commissions for the project,” wrote Schumer in a letter to colleagues on Friday.
“We have already incorporated many of your suggestions, as well as a series of bipartisan proposals, into the bill and the Senate is on track to send a hefty $ 1.9 trillion package to the president’s desk before it expires on March 14. of unemployment insurance benefits “. the New York Democrat added. “We will meet this deadline.”