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The House of Representatives is ready to give final approval to Joe Biden’s comprehensive $ 1.9 tonne stimulus and relief plan, which the president says is critical to getting the US out of the pandemic and reviving its battered economy. .
If Wednesday is passed by the House, as Democratic leaders expect, the first major legislative initiative from Biden’s presidency will help families struggling with a year-long public health crisis and provide the most generous assistance to low-income Americans. a generation.
It will send direct payments of up to $ 1400 to most Americans, expand assistance to state, local and tribal governments, provide federal subsidies to those struggling to afford health insurance, housing and food, and provide money to distribute and test Covid To promote -19 vaccines. to reopen schools safely.
Economists predict that the US Rescue Plan (ARP) as one of the largest emergency rescue packages in US history will accelerate economic recovery, increase growth to levels not seen in recent decades and dramatically increase the number of people living in poverty. reduce.
According to one estimate, the ARP could reduce child poverty by as much as half, by extending a tax credit for families with children that many Democrats want to make permanent.
House Democrats, with a slim majority, were confident the measure would succeed Wednesday morning, despite changes made in the Senate that threaten to alienate some progressives.
New York Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, said he was 110% confident of success. Once the house has accepted it, the bill will be sent to Biden for signing.
The Senate passed the bill Saturday in a 50-49 vote, and the Democrats defeated United Republican opposition and a last-minute objection by Joe Manchin of West Virginia, a member of their own party.
The package presented to the House on Wednesday was narrower than Biden’s initial proposal, which includes progressive priorities, which were then removed or scaled back to appease moderates like Manchin, which the Republicans agree with concerns that aid is too big in an economy that shows signs of revival.
A provision to increase the federal minimum wage to $ 15 per hour is considered inadmissible under a budget process used by Democrats to bypass the Republican opposition.
The Senate-approved version sharpens the suitability for stimulus tests and restructures a proposal for unemployment benefits that Biden hoped to increase to $ 400 a week. Under the new plan, unemployment benefits will remain at $ 300 a week, but will be extended until early September, rather than August. The first $ 10,200 supplements from 2020 will be tax-free.
Although some of the amendments were disappointing, Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, chairwoman of the Congress Progressive Caucus, called them ‘relatively minor concessions’, saying the overall package remained ‘truly progressive and courageous’.
Republicans believe the plan is excessive and does not match the economic and public health prospects, as more Americans are vaccinated and states will reopen businesses and schools. They also revived concerns that the package would increase national debt, concerns they had set aside under Donald Trump.
“We know for sure that it contains provisions that are not targeted, it is not temporary, it is not related to Covid and it does not have to be that way,” said Wyoming Congresswoman Liz Cheney, chair of the Republican conference chairman of the House, said. . “We could have had an account that was a fraction of the cost of this, and it could have received approval and support from two parties.”
The extraordinary price is just ashamed of the $ 2.2 tonne coronavirus bill that Donald Trump signed at the start of the pandemic last March. This is the sixth bill on the bill that Congress considers to address the devastation caused to the twins by public health and economic crises.
However, the lack of consensus in Washington contradicts the popularity among voters across the political spectrum and local and government officials from both parties. Encouraged by polls showing broad public support for the bill, Biden and Democrats argued the plan was twofold.
The final approval of the bill will take place a day before Biden delivers his first speech on Thursday, marking the first anniversary after the introduction of comprehensive public health measures to spread the nearly deadly Covid-19 virus , to try to control. 525,000 Americans and the economy plagued.
Although the distribution of vaccines is increasing dramatically and the economy is showing some signs of improvement, Democrats say the recovery is uncertain and unequal, and that low-income Americans still need help. Millions of Americans remain unemployed with the poorest hit.
“It not only brings us to the other side of the crisis, it also really starts healing the wounds caused by this crisis,” said Steny Hoyer, leader of the House Democratic majority.
After Biden signs the bill into law, he and other top officials will continue to advance the plan to the American public, which is part of pressure from the new government to ensure Democrats get credit for an economic recovery before the 2022 Congress’s mid-term election.
“We certainly recognize that we can not just sign a bill,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters on Tuesday. “We will have to do some work and use our best voices, including the President, the Vice President and others, to communicate the benefits of this package to the American people.”
Unlike his predecessor, Biden’s signature will not appear on the stimulus checks memorandum to Americans, Psaki said. “It’s not about him,” she added. “It’s about relieving the American people.”