A $ 1.9 trillion coronavirus bill, the first major piece of legislation under President Joe Biden, passed the US House on the party’s lines early Saturday morning.
The legislation includes $ 1,400 stimulus checks for individuals earning up to $ 75,000 and $ 2,800 for couples earning up to $ 150,000, plus $ 1,400 for each dependent. Along with December’s $ 600 payments, this fulfilled the Democrats’ promise to provide $ 2,000 to most Americans who were still trying to recover from the coronavirus pandemic and the ensuing economic crisis.
These payments would be eliminated for individuals who earn from $ 75,000 to $ 100,000 and for couples who earn from $ 150,000 to $ 200,000.
The bill was approved almost entirely according to the party’s lines, 219-212. All but one Democrat voted yes and all Republicans voted no. All ten New Jersey House Democrats voted yes, and the two state Republicans voted no.
Now he is going to the United States Senate, where he needs only 50 senators plus Vice President Kamala Harris’ tiebreaker vote, in a parliamentary process known as reconciliation. Biden promised to sign the bill.
“The American Rescue Plan would help millions of people who are struggling in all communities in our country as a result of the pandemic,” said Deputy Albio Sires, D-8th Dist., Member of the House Budget Committee, during the debate on the bill.
“It sends direct help to those who need it most, increases vaccination efforts, provides support for small businesses, helps children return to school safety and more.”
Congressman Chris Smith, R-4th Dist., Opposed the legislation in a plenary speech, saying it did not prevent taxpayer financing of abortions.
“Unborn babies,” said Smith, “need the US president and members of Congress to be his friends and supporters, not his opponents.”
Legislators from both sides met last year to enact the $ 2 trillion CARES Act in March, with payments of $ 1,200, $ 484 billion in April for small businesses and health care providers, and $ 900 billion in December with checks for $ 600.
But all members of the Republican Party in the House, except one, opposed a $ 3 trillion stimulus bill in May and all voted no to a $ 2 trillion proposal in September, both approved by the House, but not considered by the Republican majority of the then Senate.
This time, Republicans complained that the legislation would increase the federal deficit by $ 1.9 trillion just four years after they passed a tax law that increased the deficit by the same amount, according to analysis by the Congressional Budget Office of the United States. impact of both projects in ten years.
CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES: Live Map Tracker | Newsletter | Home page
Congress plans to pass a final bill by March 14, the day the current benefits of extended federal unemployment insurance end. The legislation extends benefits until the end of August and offers applicants an extra $ 400 per week, compared to the current $ 300.
The House bill includes $ 350 billion in federal aid long sought by states and localities to help cover additional expenses and reduced revenues due to the pandemic. According to an updated estimate by the House Oversight Committee, New Jersey and its counties would receive about $ 10 billion, with $ 6.5 billion going to the state and $ 3.5 billion to local governments.
“I strongly support the bill and the 1.4 million first respondents, teachers, public transport workers, sanitation workers and other public officials already dismissed from state and local governments across the country,” said the president of the Supervisory Committee, Carolyn Maloney, DN. Y. “We need to act before more people lose their jobs and more rescue programs are cut.”
The Republican refusal to provide such aid, one of the top Democratic priorities, prevented the passage of a stimulus bill before the 2020 elections.
Although Texas was the second largest recipient of federal assistance, one of its Republican representatives, Jodey Arrington, insisted that the funding was “an unexpected luck for states that were poorly managed and went bankrupt before COVID”.
There would also be $ 130 billion to help reopen schools, $ 25 billion to help restaurants, $ 1.5 billion for Amtrak and $ 28 billion for public transportation systems, such as NJ Transit, where the number of passengers and revenues are low.
The bill would provide money to distribute and administer vaccines, to convince people to be vaccinated to test and screen for the virus in Americans and to increase health insurance subsidies under the Affordable Care Act.
“President Biden has established a national plan to eliminate the virus,” said Frank Pallone Jr., chairman of the Chamber’s Energy and Commerce Committee, D-6th Dist., At the House floor. “With this bill, Congress is providing the president with the resources and tools to implement a national plan that was seriously lacking in the Trump administration.”
The legislation would also raise the minimum wage to $ 15 an hour, just like New Jersey. But unlike the state, the federal provision would require workers who received tips, such as restaurant workers and bartenders, to receive $ 15 an hour, without including bonuses.
But parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough determined that the salary increase could not be included in the Senate’s version of the legislation under reconciliation, leaving Democrats to find an alternative that would pass the test.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Friday that Biden still supported the $ 15 hourly minimum wage and wanted to see it approved.
“I will say that we are committed to finding the best way to raise the minimum wage, and that will require a series of conversations with leaders in Congress and members who are committed to this issue in the future,” said Psaki in his daily press briefing.
Senate Budget Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., And Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore, said they would try to insert the salary increase into the stimulus bill in another way, perhaps through tax incentives and penalties.
“We can’t get in through the front or back door, so we’ll try to get in through the window,” said Wyden.
Jonathan D. Salant can be contacted at [email protected].
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