US president Joe Biden is on the verge of signing a historic Covid stimulus Bill, as the House of Representatives prepares to vote on his $1.9 trillion economic plan on Wednesday.
Congressional approval of the legislative package – known as the American Rescue Plan – would mark a major achievement for the new US president, who has prioritised response to the coronavirus pandemic since assuming office.
It will also be one of the largest fiscal stimulus measures in US history – dwarfing previous federal rescue packages.
"It's a remarkable, historic transformative piece of legislation which goes a very long way to crushing the virus and solving our economic crisis," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on the eve of the vote, noting that it will "overwhelmingly" benefit working families.
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Today's vote follows Senate approval for the bill on Saturday, after a marathon overnight session in the chamber. Though the House passed a previous version of the legislation last month, it now must consider the amended Senate version. If approved, it will then go to the president's desk for signing.
Democratic leadership expressed confidence that the legislation will pass.
“We’ll pass it, hopefully with some Republican votes,” New York Democrat Hakeem Jeffries predicted on Tuesday.
Though Democrats hold a majority in the House it is a slim one. As a result, the party cannot lose the support of more than four Democrats for the measures, assuming that all Republicans vote against.
Though Senate Democrats did succeed in passing their version of the legislation in the upper chamber on Saturday, they did so after bowing to demands of Democrat Joe Manchin, a moderate from West Virginia who threatened to vote against the package. In the end, the legislation passed by 50 to 49, with all Republicans voting against.
The chamber was only able to pass the legislation after using a budget reconciliation procedure that allows some legislation to pass with a simple majority, avoiding the need to secure 60 votes to overcome the Senate filibuster.
Minimum wage
The revised legislation going before the House today includes a provision to send $1,400 cheques directly to millions of Americans, extend a $300-per-week supplemental unemployment benefit until early September, enhance child benefit payments, and funds for state and local authorities. But a proposal to increase the minimum wage to $15 is not part of the package, after the Senate parliamentarian ruled that it could not be included in the budget reconciliation process.
Mr Biden, who visited a hardware store in Washington yesterday, a recipient of the government’s Paycheck Protection Programme (PPP), said that American people “need direct economic relief, and they need it now”.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that once the rescue bill is signed, the administration hopes to get cheques to Americans by the end of this month. Illustrating how the $1.9 trillion package will directly benefit Americans, she said that a couple making under $150,000 a year with two children will receive $5,600 in direct payments, plus another $2,600 thanks to expanded child credits.
Speaking at the daily White House briefing, Ms Psaki also came under questioning about the administration's response to the surge in the number of migrants, including unaccompanied minors, arriving at the US-Mexican border.
New figures cited by US news media yesterday show that the number of unaccompanied migrant children detained along the southern border has tripled in the last two weeks to more than 3,250. The Biden administration has been criticised for holding children in Border Control and Protection facilities for more than the legal limit of 72 hours, as federal shelters struggle with insufficient capacity.
Ms Psaki said that the administration is looking at opening new facilities to help deal with the surge in numbers.
“I think that it’s imperative that we send the message that this is a dangerous journey,” Ms Psaki said about children arriving to America’s border. “This is not the time to come, this is a dangerous journey.”
