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The House of Representatives is about to give final approval to Joe Biden’s $ 1.9 trillion coronavirus stimulus and relief plan, a giant aid package that the president said was critical to lift the United States out of the pandemic and revive its shaken economy.
If passed by the House on Wednesday, as Democratic leaders hope, the Biden presidency’s first major legislative initiative will accelerate assistance to families struggling with a year-long public health crisis and provide the most generous expansion of the country. helps low-income Americans in a generation.
It 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 for health, housing and food insurance, and deliver money to boost distribution and testing Covid-19 vaccine and to reopen schools safely.
Economists predict that, as one of the largest emergency rescue packages in American history, the American Rescue Plan (ARP) will accelerate economic recovery, boosting growth to levels never seen in recent decades and drastically reducing the number of people living in poverty.
According to one estimate, the ARP could cut child poverty in half, through an expansion of a tax credit for families with children that many Democrats want to make permanent.
House Democrats, who hold a small majority, were confident that the measure would pass on Wednesday morning, despite changes in the Senate that threatened to alienate some progressives.
New York congressman Hakeem Jeffries, chairman of the Democratic Congress in the House, said he was “110% confident” in the success. Once approved by the House, the bill will be sent to Biden for signature.
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 stimulus checks 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.
Although disappointed by some of the amendments, Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, president of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, called them “relatively minor concessions” and said the overall package remained “truly progressive and bold”.
Republicans say the plan is excessive and incompatible with economic and public health prospects, as more Americans are vaccinated and states move to reopen businesses and schools. They have also raised concerns that the package will increase national debt, concerns they have put aside under Donald Trump.
“We know for sure that it includes provisions that are not targeted, are not temporary, are not related to Covid and need not be,” said Wyoming Congresswoman Liz Cheney, president of the House Republican Conference. “We could have a bill that was a fraction of the cost of it, it could have obtained approval and bipartisan support.”
The extraordinary price is almost non-existent compared to the $ 2.2 trillion coronavirus aid bill signed by Donald Trump at the start 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, Washington’s lack of consensus hides its popularity among voters across the political spectrum 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.
The final approval of the project will take place the day before Biden makes his first prime-time speech on Thursday, marking the first anniversary after the introduction of public health measures to try to control the spread of the Covid-19 virus, which nearly killed 525,000 Americans and hurt the economy.
Although vaccine distribution is growing dramatically and the economy shows some signs of improvement, Democrats say the recovery is precarious and uneven and that low-income Americans still need help. Millions of Americans remain unemployed, the poorest being the most affected.
“This not only takes us to the other side of the crisis, but it really starts to heal the wounds that were caused by it,” said Steny Hoyer, the Democratic majority leader in the House.
After Biden signs the bill, he and other senior officials will continue to promote the plan to the American public, as part of an impetus from the new government to ensure that Democrats receive credit for an economic recovery before the 2022 legislative elections for Congress.
“We certainly recognize that we cannot just sign a bill,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters on Tuesday. “We will need to work and use our best voices, including the president, vice president and others, to communicate to the American people the benefits of this package.”
Unlike its predecessor, Biden’s signature will not appear in line with the memo of stimulus checks sent to Americans, said Psaki. “It is not about him,” she added. “This is about the American people getting relief.”