Democrats are a big step closer to achieving their first big goal of the Joe Biden era. On Saturday morning, the US House approved a $ 1.9 trillion coronavirus control bill after a near party-line vote.
The vote of 219-212 allows the US Senate to formally pass the legislation Senate Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) wants to do immediately. But the party is under fire: Many Democrats view March 14 – the day on which extended millions of unemployment benefits expire – as a de facto deadline to get the so-called American bailout plan on Biden’s desk.
The legislation would complement aid for the unemployed by extending a $ 400 weekly check through August. It also fulfills a number of other promises the Democrats campaigned for in 2020: $ 1,400 direct incentive checks to complement the $ 600 checks issued in December, billions of dollars to accelerate vaccine distribution, funds for schools, and aid to national and local authorities. The House bill passed with an increase in the federal minimum wage – but the Senate procedural enforcer felt the bill was inconsistent with the rules for expediting a bill in the upper house. It effectively destroys the prospects for a clean pay rise as part of the COVID legislation.
Previous rounds of major COVID legislation passed by the House with bipartisan support, but Friday’s vote pretty much confirmed that Biden’s emergency response will go down a starkly partisan path. The GOP, ravaged by infighting in the aftermath of the January 6 attack and the impeachment of Donald Trump, has found reason for unity in backlash against the aid plan, which they blamed as a blown-up vehicle for liberal wishlist items. The Democrats hoped that at least a few Republicans would vote for the plan, but no GOP lawmakers backed the legislation, and the chance of picking up many Senate Republicans seems weak.