WASHINGTON – Republicans have one goal for President Joe Biden’s $ 1.9 billion COVID-19 aid package: to defy public support for the rescue plan by portraying it as too big, bloated and too wasteful of public spending for a pandemic that is almost over.
Senate Republicans on Saturday prepared to vote a closing time against legal aid, and the calculated political risk that Americans will sour over the large dollar spending on vaccination, unemployment benefits, money for the states and other expenses as unnecessary, once they are all learned the details.
They are reviving a page of their 2009 removal from President Barack Obama’s costly recovery from the financial crisis, and they expect their opposition to pay political rewards, just as the earlier effort contributed to the Republicans in power. came.
It is a tried and tested strategy, but comes at an uncertain, erratic time for the country. Americans are experiencing flickering optimism during the one-year anniversary of the deadly outbreak as more people are vaccinated. But new virus strains and an ever-shaky economy could unleash another devastating cycle of infections, shutdowns and deaths. More than 500,000 Americans have died.
So far, public support for Biden’s approach to the pandemic has been high. Overall, 70% of Americans support the Democratic president’s handling of the virus response, including 44% of Republicans, according to a new poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
Biden and Democrats warn that this is not the time to give up help, and that it is better to do too much than too little. They say the cost of reducing the rescue risk is hampering economic recovery, as many believe happened in 2009.
“If the house is on fire, you do not argue how much fire you should put out,” Sen said. Patty Murray, D-Wash., Said during Friday’s sitting.
“You do everything necessary until the crisis is over,” she said. “And you do it as fast as you can.”
The debate in Congress reflects a fundamental divide in the country over how to contain and crush the pandemic and bring the people back to normal.
Nearly 10 million jobs have been lost and about 11 million households are being evicted. While Democratic leaders typically align themselves with health professionals who limit social constraints and facilitate the reopening of schools and workplaces, Republican Republicans are more eager to keep things as close as possible.
The US is not alone in facing the daunting dilemma of having serious consequences on the scale and scope of aid needed to prevent further economic disasters.
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, who leads his minority party to the “no” vote, said Biden’s 628-page bill is a Democratic “wish list” that is not currently being met because of the pandemic. to lift and the economy is ready for a “Roaring recovery.”
“We are already on course to jump back from the crisis,” he said.
Republicans argue that Congress has already approved historic sums to counter the pandemic and that the huge spending will overheat the economy, raising inflationary fears, although economists are common about the concern. They have an opening with voters who, according to the poll, are skeptical about Biden’s handling of the economy.
McConnell expressed similar optimism last spring when he took a “break” over the new issues after approving the initial rounds. About that time, then-President Donald Trump promised that by Easter Sunday, Americans would be completely normal again.
But, as Texas announced last week that it is trying to end the requirements for wearing a face mask, one of the key strategies of public health officials is that it helps prevent the spread of the virus, that known political fault lines and concerns resurface. Texas was one of the first states to reopen in May, easing restrictions at the start of the second wave of the pandemic that swept through the summer.
Jason Furman, the former chairman of Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers who now teaches at Harvard, agrees that parts of Biden’s package are too large, suggesting that the $ 350 billion in states and cities could be reduced or stricter protection rails against waste may have. But he said the greater economic danger lies in not doing enough.
Vaccinations alone are not enough to ensure a healthy economy, he said. Households are struggling and businesses are facing changing consumer habits and spending. The Biden package offers $ 1,400 direct payments to individuals, being phased out for those earning $ 80,000 a year.
“If you add up the financial needs of households and the deficits facing the states, the U.S. bailout plan fills it too much,” he said in an email. “But no legislation is perfect, and as I said, if families get a little more money in a particular year, it’s less bad than when Congress does not act.”
While Biden has embarked on his own partisan strategy, relying on Democratic votes for passage, Republicans are in a battle mode.
Senate Republicans on Thursday forced a passage of the bill, which delayed the start of the debate.
On Friday, senators launched an overnight session on amendments, mostly from Republicans, designed in part to change the bill, but also to highlight costly spending and less popular provisions. Early Saturday, most failed.
Democrats’ own amendment, to reduce extra unemployment benefits from $ 400 a week to $ 300, divided their ranks and caused further delays, before it was finally adopted.
Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., Who forced the reading of the bill, used cards and props to help Americans understand the size of the $ 1.9 billion package.
“The human mind can’t really think about what a trillion is,” he said before beginning in examples. He suggested that a stack of $ 1 bills stretch the distance to the moon.
GOP Senator Mike Braun of Indiana has said they want to reverse the opinion by the time they finish.
“We’re going to expose every ugly detail of it,” he said.
The White House is well aware of the challenges ahead. Many of Biden’s staff members are veterans of the 2009 battles.
Press secretary Jen Psaki said on Friday that they had not done enough at the time to explain to the American people the benefits in a way “about which people would talk at their dinner tables.”
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Associated Press authors Josh Boak and Zeke Miller contributed to this report.