WASHINGTON (AP) – A Congress divided along party lines passed a $ 1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill on Wednesday, when President Joe Biden and Democrats claimed the triumph of a bill that commands the government’s spending power against a twin pandemic and economic crises that have worsened a nation.
The House gave Congress final approval for the 220-211 party line scan package precisely seven weeks after Biden entered the White House and four days after the Senate passed the bill. Republicans in both chambers unanimously opposed the bill, characterizing it as bloated, crammed with liberal policies and indifferent to signs that the crisis is easing.
“Help is here,” tweeted Biden moments after the call list, which ended with applause from Democratic lawmakers. Biden said he would sign the measure on Friday.
Most notable for many Americans are the provisions that provide up to $ 1,400 in direct payments this year for most adults and extend the weekly $ 300 emergency unemployment benefits until early September. But the legislation goes far beyond that.
The move meets Democrats’ campaign pledges and Biden’s top initial priority of facilitating a double coup that hit the country a year ago. Since then, many Americans have been relegated to hermitic lifestyles in their homes to avoid a disease that has killed more than 525,000 people – about the population of Wichita, Kansas – and plunged the economy into its depths since the Great Depression.
“Today we have to make a decision with tremendous consequences,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., “A decision that will make a difference for millions of Americans, saving lives and livelihoods.”
For Biden and Democrats, the bill is essentially a canvas on which they painted their fundamental beliefs – that government programs can be a benefit, not a curse, for millions of people and that spending large sums on such efforts can be the cure. not a curse. The measure tracks the Democrats’ priorities so closely that many classify it as the greatest achievement of their careers and, despite its narrow majorities in Congress, there was never a real scare about their fate.
They were also strengthened by three dynamics: their unrestricted control of the White House and Congress, polls showing strong support for Biden’s approach and a time when the majority of voters are little concerned that the national debt is rising into the stratosphere. of $ 22 trillion. Neither party seems very concerned about the appearance of red ink, except when the other is using it to finance its priorities, whether they be Democratic spending or Republican Party tax cuts.
Rep. Jared Golden of Maine was the only Democrat to oppose the move. He said in a written statement that some of the project’s expenditures were not urgent.
Republicans noted that they overwhelmingly supported five previous relief bills that Congress passed since the pandemic struck a year ago, when the government divided under then President Donald Trump forced the parties to negotiate. They said it reflected only Democratic goals, setting aside money for family planning programs and federal officials who take leave to deal with COVID-19 and not requiring closed schools that accept aid to open their doors.
“If you are a member of the swamp, you do very well with this project. But for the American people, that means serious problems immediately on the horizon, ”said minority leader in the House, Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., Referring to the additional federal loan that the measure will force.
A dominant feature of the 628-page bill is the initiatives that make it one of the biggest federal efforts in years to help middle and lower-income families. Included are tax credits expanded over the next year for children, day care centers and family leave – some of which credits Democrats have signaled they would like to make permanent – in addition to spending on renters, food programs and utility bills.
In addition to direct payments and the extension of unemployment benefits, the measure has hundreds of billions for vaccines and COVID-19 treatments, schools, state and local governments and industries in difficulty, from airlines to concert halls. There is help for farmers of color, pension systems and student borrowers, and subsidies for consumers who buy health insurance and states that expand Medicaid coverage for low-income people.
“Who’s going to help? Do we say that all of this is survival of the fittest? No, ”said the chairman of the House Budget Committee, John Yarmuth, D-Ky. “We are up to the occasion. We deliver.”
Highlighting the bill’s focus, the independent Tax Policy Center said the measure would give nearly 70% of its tax incentives this year to families earning $ 91,000 or less. In contrast, the Trump-era Republican Party tax bill gave almost half of its 2018 reductions to the 5% of families earning about $ 308,000, said the research center, which is run by the Urban Institute and Brookings Institution.
The measure was approved amid promising, albeit mixed, signs of recovery.
Americans are being vaccinated at increasingly robust rates, although this is mitigated by variants of the coronavirus and people’s growing impatience to restrict social activities. The economy created 379,000 unexpectedly strong jobs last month, although they remain 9.5 million fewer than before the pandemic.
Republicans said the country would pay a price for extra spending.
“It’s certainly a good policy to say, ‘Hey, we’re going to give you a check for $ 1,400,'” said Congressman Tom Rice, RS.C. “But what they don’t talk about is the costs of that account.”
A survey by the Associated Press-NORC Public Affairs Research Center found last week that 70% of Americans support Biden’s response to the virus, including 44% of Republicans. According to a CNN poll released on Wednesday, the relief bill is supported by 61% of Americans, including almost all Democrats, 58% of independents and 26% of Republicans.
However, until November 2022, when control of the Senate and the House will be at stake, it will be uncertain whether voters will reward Democrats, punish them or make decisions on unforeseen issues.
The project’s path has emphasized the challenges of Democrats as they seek to build a legislative record to attract voters.
Democrats control the Senate, split 50-50, just because Vice President Kamala Harris gives them the winning vote in tied votes. They have only a 10-vote lead in the House.
There is almost no room for maneuver for a party ranging from West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin on the conservative side to progressives like New York City deputy Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
In the relief bill, progressives had to swallow large concessions to solidify moderate support.
The most painful thing was to eliminate the increase in the federal minimum wage approved by the House to $ 15 an hour by 2025. Moderates also managed to cut emergency unemployment benefits, which in an earlier version were $ 400 weekly, eliminate $ 1,400 stimulus checks completely for wage earners at lower levels than originally proposed.
At some point, it seems likely that progressives will draw their own lines in the sand.