The United States House of Representatives approved this Saturday (27) $ 1.9 trillion incentive plan Encouraged by President Joe Biden, thanks to only Democrat votes, an important first step before the Senate examines the text.
After hours of debate, the bill passed the House in favor of 219 votes and 212 against. Republicans criticize measures they consider expensive and poorly targeted. Text will be sent to the Senate next week.
“After 12 months of death and hopelessness, American recovery begins tonight,” said Congressman Brendan Boyle shortly before the package was approved, four days after crossing the 500,000 Kovid-19 death mark in the country The latter took place.
The Biden Plan aims to support the economy and streamline vaccination against coronaviruses. The package provides billions of dollars to speed up vaccination and testing, as well as $ 130 billion to help schools reopen.
Confident, Democrats in the Secret have little majority to approve the text. Then, the plan will return to the House of Representatives for the final version.
“We have to approve the plan by March 14, when the unemployment benefit ends,” Democratic Majority Leader Stiney Hoyer said.
‘waste’
“After a year of epidemic and economic crisis, Americans should know that their government works for them. And as President Biden said, ‘Ed will come,’ said House Speaker, Democrat Nancy Pelosi, before the vote.
Republican Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy stated that “Democrats are absolutely embarrassed by the waste of money associated with Kovid in the text that they accept it at midnight.”
On Thursday, a relatively unknown figure in Congress shook the progress of the plan.
The director of parliamentary procedures, Elizabeth McDonough, considered that given the simple majority voting format defined by Senate Democrats, the text cannot include raising the minimum wage to $ 15 per hour. This type of legislation normally requires 60 votes out of 100, and in this case the text can be approved by senators with 51 votes.
Some progressive politicians resented and asked that the opinion of the disqualified official should not be considered, with President Biden saying he respected McDonough’s position. However, he asked Congress to “go quickly to adopt the plan”.
Biden announced that he would try to encourage an increase in the federal minimum wage separately, currently at $ 7.25. Democratic congressional leaders speculated on Friday that the route would be chosen.
$ 1.4 thousand check
Eliminating the minimum wage increase could also lead to the final approval of the package, as some liberal Democrats were opposed to the idea.
Senator Bernie Sanders and other Democrats are studying an alternative to raising the minimum wage: introducing an amendment to the bill, which creates tax penalties for large companies that pay less than the “significant minimum”.
But even liberal Democrats could express opposition to the plan.
Americans should be sent new $ 1,400 aid checks according to their income level, and the unemployment benefit will be extended until September 30, 2021.
