The legislation, which had already been passed in part by individual committees, was packed by the Chamber’s Budget Committee.
The panel will review the bill on Monday and is expected to reach the House floor for voting next week.
Democrats have a narrow margin to approve the bill, and Republican leaders have already started to whip their members against it, arguing that it spends a lot of money.
The House bill resembles President Joe Biden’s bailout plan and includes more money for schools, vaccine distribution and funding for state and local governments.
The project is not expected to attract much or any Republican support. On Friday, House minority leader Steve Scalise asked Republicans via email to vote “no” in what his office called House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s “Payoff to Progressives Act.”
“It is clear that Democrats have no interest in addressing COVID’s relief in a timely and targeted manner and are instead using the reconciliation process to interfere with their liberal wish list agenda,” wrote Scalise’s office.
Hours later, Pelosi’s office rejected this characterization of Republicans.
“With millions of unemployed Americans and demanding relief to reopen schools and get people back to work, the Republican House leadership is demanding that its members vote against a bipartisan plan to help struggling Americans,” his office said by email. . “Americans need help. House Republicans don’t care.”
Once the House passes the legislation, it will go to the Senate, where Democrats hold the minimum majority possible. Some sections of the bill are expected to be amended to accommodate the rules of the budget process known as reconciliation, which allows Democrats in the Senate to approve the bill with a simple majority. The Senate has a 50-50 party split, with Vice President Kamala Harris being able to intervene and act as a tiebreaker vote.
Pelosi said earlier that he expects the Covid-19 aid package to be on Biden’s table by March 14, when some unemployment benefits expire.