House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) joins other members of Congress to observe a moment of silence on the stairs of the US Capitol on February 23, 2021 in Washington, DC.
Al Drago | Getty Images
House Democrats plan to pass their $ 1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill on Friday, while lawmakers try to prevent unemployment insurance from expiring next month.
“The American people strongly support this bill and we are moving quickly to see it enacted in law,” said House majority leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., In a statement posted on Twitter late Tuesday. market.
The package includes direct payments of $ 1,400 for most Americans, a $ 400 weekly unemployment insurance supplement, and an extension of programs making millions more Americans eligible for unemployment insurance. He also invests $ 20 billion in Covid-19 vaccinations, $ 50 billion in testing and $ 350 billion in state, local and tribal government aid.
As of now, the plan would raise the federal minimum wage to $ 15 an hour by 2025. The provision may not survive in the final bill.
Democrats decided to pass legislation on their own through budgetary reconciliation, which requires a simple majority in a Senate divided by 50% per party. They argued that they cannot wait to alleviate economic problems while trying to reach an agreement with the Republican Party.
Republicans questioned the need for nearly $ 2 trillion more in spending, as they pointed out that vaccines put the country on the road to a broader reopening.
“Too much on this project is a waste or a wish list for progressives,” said minority leader in the House, Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., During an interview with the CNBC “Squawk Box” on Wednesday morning.
Democrats have been pushing for another aid package, while the United States is stepping up its vaccination effort. More than 44 million people have already received one dose and almost 20 million have received two, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Although the country has made progress in building immunity, it is still registering about 71,500 cases of Covid-19 and more than 2,000 deaths per day, according to an average of seven days calculated by CNBC using data from Johns Hopkins University. More than 500,000 Americans have died of the disease.
As much of the country maintains economic restrictions to prevent infections, more than 18 million people were receiving unemployment insurance earlier this month. More than 150 CEOs in New York asked for the aid plan to be approved on Wednesday, saying “more must be done to put the country on a strong and durable recovery path”.
Next, Democrats will take the formal step of taking the bill to the House Rules Committee and to the plenary on Friday morning. Party leaders plan to send the legislation to the Senate later in the day.
Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y. predicted that the Senate will pass the bill and send it to President Joe Biden before March 14. Programs implementing an increase of $ 300 per week in unemployment, an expansion of insurance for workers and self-employed – employed individuals and an increase in the number of benefit weeks that formally expire on the date.
Schumer said on Tuesday that he intends to keep his caucus together, since the Sens. Joe Manchin, DW.Va., and Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., Oppose a minimum wage of $ 15 an hour. A single Democratic vote against the bill would sink it.
“I made a proposal today for all of our caucus and said that we need to approve this project, the American people, the American public demands it,” said Schumer. He later raised his cell phone when asked how he manages an equally divided Senate.
The Senate parliamentarian is due to decide this week whether Congress can approve a minimum wage increase in the budgetary reconciliation process.
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