The Guardian
US House approves $ 1.9 trillion Covid aid plan in major legislative victory for Biden
The final count was 220 to 211, with one Democrat and all Republicans voting against measureUS policy – live updates Position: Joe Manchin commands this presidency Nancy Pelosi leaves the House floor after voting for Covid’s US aid package $ 1.9 trillion on March 10. Photo: Jim Lo Scalzo / EPA Subscribe to the Guardian’s First Thing newsletter The US House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a $ 1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill, delivering the first major legislative victory for Joe’s presidency Biden and a comprehensive promise to lift millions of Americans out of poverty. To applause, a clearly elated Speaker in the House, Nancy Pelosi, announced the vote, House Democrats came together behind a historic stimulus package that the President said was critical in driving the United States toward ending the Covid-19 pandemic. , which has already killed more than half a million Americans. Broad legislation would not only hasten assistance for families struggling with a year-long economic and public health crisis, but would provide the most generous expansion of the American social safety net in a generation. The final count was 220 to 211, with a Democrat, Congressman Jared Golden, from Maine, and all Republicans voting against the measure. “Aid is here,” tweeted the president, moments after the vote ended with an explosion of Democratic applause. Biden will sign the bill on Friday, in time to prevent millions of Americans from losing the enhanced unemployment benefits that were set to expire without federal action. Help is here. https://t.co/urZCiigeS1— President Biden (@POTUS) March 10, 2021 Republicans considered the project bloated and misdirected, arguing that the massive stimulus ignores the signs that the twin crises were easing as more Americans were vaccinated. “This is not a rescue bill,” said minority leader in the House, Kevin McCarthy, during the debate. “It is a long list of priorities on the left that predate the pandemic and do not meet the needs of American families.” But Democrats, who hold a small majority, overcame unified Republican opposition and a single defection to approve what Pelosi hailed as “one of the most historic and transformative pieces of legislation” that she has already voted in her more than three decades in Congress. “Today we have to make a decision with tremendous consequences – a decision that will make a difference for millions of Americans, saving lives and livelihoods,” she said, arguing in favor of the bill just before the House voted. Biden’s 628-page bill will send direct payments of up to $ 1,400 to most Americans, expand aid to state, local and tribal governments, provide federal subsidies for those struggling to pay health insurance, and increase assistance for housing and food. It would also spend tens of billions of dollars to expand Covid-19 testing and vaccine distribution as part of Biden’s promise to provide sufficient doses for “all adults in America” by the end of May. Economists and experts predict that, as one of the largest emergency rescue packages in American history, the American Rescue Plan (ARP) will accelerate economic recovery, driving growth to levels never seen in recent decades and dramatically reducing the number of people living in poverty. A new analysis released on Wednesday found that the legislation would dramatically reduce the number of Americans living in poverty, especially among children and people of color. According to the Washington-based Urban Institute, the relief package would reduce the projected annual poverty rate for 2021 from 13.7% to 8.7%. This would cut more than half the number of children living in poverty, while cutting the poverty rate by about 42% for black Americans, 39% for Hispanic Americans and 34% for white Americans. The Senate passed the bill on Saturday in a 50-49 vote, Democrats overcoming unified Republican opposition and a last-minute objection from West Virginia’s Joe Manchin, a member of his own party. The package before the House on Wednesday was narrower than Biden’s initial proposal, which included progressive priorities subsequently eliminated or reduced to appease moderates like Manchin, who echoed Republicans with concerns that the infusion of aid was too large in an economy that showed signs of rebirth. A provision to raise the federal minimum wage to $ 15 an hour was considered inadmissible under a budget process that Democrats used to circumvent the Republican opposition. The Senate-approved version restricts eligibility for $ 1,400 stimulus checks, which follow the $ 600 payments issued through the bill approved in December, and restructures an unemployment insurance proposal that Biden hoped to increase to $ 400 a week. Under the new plan, unemployment insurance will remain at $ 300 a week, but will be extended until early September, instead of August. The first $ 10,200 of supplements in 2020 will be tax-free. The extraordinary price is almost non-existent compared to the $ 2.2 trillion coronavirus bill signed by Trump at the beginning of the pandemic last March. It will be the sixth spending bill that Congress has enacted to deal with the devastation caused by the twin public and economic health crises, and it should be the first to pass without bipartisan support, despite Biden’s campaign promise to work with the republicans. However, the lack of consensus in Washington hides its popularity with voters from across the political spectrum, as well as with the business community and local and state officials from both parties. Encouraged by research that shows widespread public support for the project, Biden and the Democrats argued that the plan is bipartisan. “I ask my Republican colleagues to stop their March madness and show some compassion for their voters who are less wealthy,” Congressman James Clyburn of South Carolina, the Democratic majority leader, said during a plenary debate before the voting. Democrats are now embarking on an aggressive promotional campaign, hoping to avoid a repeat of 2009, when, in the midst of a slow economic recovery from the Great Recession, they failed to sell Barack Obama’s recovery project to the public and suffered defeat. overwhelming in Congress midterm elections the following year. On Thursday, Biden will give his presidency’s first prime-time speech to mark the first anniversary after the introduction of comprehensive public health measures. “For weeks, an overwhelming percentage of Americans – Democrats, independents and Republicans – made it clear that they support the United States’ Rescue Plan,” Biden said in a statement on Wednesday. “Today, with the final approval in the House of Representatives, your voice has been heard.”