WASHINGTON (AP) – A congress torn along party lines passed a milestone $ 1.9 trillion COVID-19 emergency relief bill on Wednesday as President Joe Biden and Democrats claimed triumph over bill regulating government spending space against a twin pandemic and economic crises that have turned a nation.
Exactly seven weeks after Biden entered the White House and four days after the Senate passed the bill, the House gave final congressional approval to the sweeping package by a vote of 220-211 near the party. Republicans in both chambers were unanimous against the bill, characterizing it as bloated, full of liberal policies and disregarding signs that the crises are receding.
“There is help,” Biden tweeted shortly after the applause, which ended with applause from Democratic lawmakers. Biden said he would sign the measure on Friday.
Most notable for many Americans are amenities that provide up to $ 1,400 direct payments to most adults this year and extend weekly emergency unemployment benefits from $ 300 through early September. But the legislation goes much further
The measure lives up to Democrats’ campaign promises and Biden’s first priority of softening a one-two punch that first hit the country a year ago. Since then, many Americans have relegated to hermit-style lifestyles in their homes to avoid a disease that killed more than 525,000 people – roughly the population of Wichita, Kansas – and plunged the economy to its lowest point since the Great Depression.
“Today we have to make a decision with huge consequences,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., “A decision that will make a difference to millions of Americans and save lives and livelihoods.”
For Biden and Democrats, the bill is essentially a canvas on which to paint their core beliefs – that government programs can be a benefit, not a curse, to millions, and that spending huge sums on such efforts can be a cure, not a curse. The measure follows the Democrats’ priorities so closely that some rank it among the peak achievements of their careers, and despite their small congressional majority, there was never any real uncertainty about its fate.
They were also bolstered by three dynamics: their unfettered control over the White House and Congress, polls showing robust support for Biden’s approach, and a time when most voters cared little about government debt rising to a stratospheric $ 22 trillion. . Neither side seems to be bothered much by the rising red ink, except when the other uses it to fund its priorities, be it democratic spending or GOP tax cuts.
Rep. Maine’s Jared Golden was the only Democrat to oppose the measure. He said in a written statement that some of the bill’s spending was not urgent.
Republicans noted that they have backed with overwhelming support five previous emergency bills that Congress has passed since the pandemic struck a year ago, when the divided government under then President Donald Trump forced the parties to negotiate. They said it only reflected Democratic goals by setting money aside for family planning programs and federal employees taking leave to deal with COVID-19 and not requiring shuttered schools that accept help to reopen their doors.
“If you’re a member of the swamp, you’re doing pretty well under this bill. But for the American people, that means serious problems are immediately on the horizon, ”said House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., Referring to the added federal loan that the measure will enforce.
A predominant feature of the 628-page bill is its initiatives, making it one of the largest federal efforts in years to help lower- and middle-income families. Included are extensive tax credits for the coming year for children, daycare, and family leave – some of those credits the Democrats have indicated they want to make permanent – plus expenses on tenants, nutrition programs, and public utility bills.
In addition to direct payments and renewal of unemployment benefits, the measure covers hundreds of billions for COVID-19 vaccines and treatments, schools, state and local governments and ailing industries, from airlines to concert halls. There is support for farmers of color, retirement systems and student loans, and subsidies for consumers buying health insurance and states extending Medicaid coverage to those with lower incomes.
Who’s going to help? Are we saying this is all survival of the fittest? No, ”said House Budget Committee Chairman John Yarmuth, D-Ky. ‘We take the opportunity. We deliver. ”
To underscore the focus of the bill, the independent Tax Policy Center said the measure would give nearly 70% of tax breaks this year to households earning $ 91,000 or less. In contrast, the Trump-era GOP tax bill gave nearly half of the 2018 cuts to the top 5% of households earning about $ 308,000, said the research center, which is run by the liberally-minded Urban Institute and Brookings Institution.
The measure was approved amid promising but mixed signs of recovery.
Americans are getting more robustly vaccinated, although that is being tempered by coronavirus variants and people’s growing impatience with curbing social activities. The economy created an unexpectedly strong 379,000 jobs last month, although there are still 9.5 million fewer than before the pandemic hit.
Republicans said the country will pay a price for the extra spending.
“It’s certainly good policy to say, ‘Hey, we’re going to hand you a check for $ 1,400,'” said Representative Tom Rice, RS.C. “But what they don’t talk about is what this bill costs.”
A poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research last week found that 70% of Americans support Biden’s response to the virus, including a hefty 44% of Republicans. According to a CNN poll released Wednesday, the emergency relief bill is backed by 61% of Americans, including nearly all Democrats, 58% of independents, and 26% of Republicans.
But until November 2022, when control of the Senate and House is at stake, it will be uncertain whether voters will reward, punish Democrats, or make decisions on unforeseen issues.
The bill’s path has underscored the challenges facing Democrats as they try to build a legislative record to engage voters.
Democrats control the Senate, split between 50-50, just because Vice President Kamala Harris gives them the winning vote in tied roll call. They only have an advantage of 10 votes in the House.
That’s almost no leeway for a party that ranges from West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin on the conservative side to progressives like New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
On the bill, progressives had to swallow big concessions to solidify moderate support.
Most painful was the elimination of the House-approved federal minimum wage increase to $ 15 an hour by 2025. Moderates also managed to curtail emergency unemployment benefits, which were $ 400 a week in an earlier version, and the incentive vouchers from Completely abolish $ 1,400 for earners at lower tiers than originally proposed.
At some point, it seems likely that progressives will draw their own lines in the sand.