Democrats are a big step closer to achieving their first major Joe Biden era goal. Early Saturday morning, the US House approved a $ 1.9 billion coronavirus relief bill on an almost party line.
Voting 219-212 allows the U.S. Senate to formally enact legislation, which Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) wants to do immediately. But the party is under fire: many Democrats consider March 14 – the day on which extended unemployment benefits run out of millions – as a de facto deadline to get the so-called American rescue plan on Biden’s desk.
The legislation would supplement the relief for the unemployed by extending a weekly check of $ 400 through August. It also fulfills a number of other promises the Democrats made in 2020: direct $ 1,400 incentives to supplement the $ 600 checks that went out in December, billions of dollars to speed up the distribution of vaccines, funds for schools and aid to state and local governments. The House bill was passed with an increase in the federal minimum wage – but the Senate procedure found that the proposal did not comply with the rules for quickly locating a bill in the upper chamber. This effectively kills the prospect of a clean wage increase as part of the COVID legislation.
Preliminary rounds of major COVID legislation passed the House with dual support, but Friday’s vote confirmed anything but that Biden’s first aid would move a strong biased path. The GOP, battling infighting following the January 6 attack and Donald Trump’s indictment, found reason for unity in opposition to the relief plan, which turned them out to be an inflated vehicle for liberal wish list items. Democrats expressed the hope that at least a few Republicans would vote for the plan, but not a single GOP legislator supported the legislation, and the chances of picking up many Republicans from the Senate seem slim.