Washington-The US House passed an enormous, $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package early Saturday, hailed by Democrats as a critical\u00a0step\u00a0in funneling new funding toward vaccinations, overburdened local governments, and millions of families devastated by the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Four days after the Covid-19 death toll surpassed 500,000 in the United States, the sprawling measure backed by President Joe Biden and seen as a moral imperative by many now heads to the Senate for consideration next week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAfter 12 months of death and despair, the American recovery begins tonight,\u201d congressman Brendan Boyle told the House chamber shortly before lawmakers approved the package on an rare post-midnight vote of 219 to 212. No Republicans voted for the bill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The sharply partisan result comes weeks after Biden\u2019s January 20 inauguration, when he called for unity in the face of a once-in-a-century health crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The package cleared the House despite a major setback for Democrats, when a key Senate official ruled Thursday that the final version of the bill cannot include a minimum wage hike. Biden had campaigned extensively on raising the national minimum wage to $15 an hour, from a rate of $7.25 that has stood since 2009.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He aimed to include it in the rescue plan, which directly provides $1,400 checks to most Americans and allots billions of dollars to boost vaccine delivery, help schools re-open and fund state and local governments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It extends unemployment benefits, set to expire mid-March, by about six months, as well as a moratorium on evictions for millions of people struggling to pay rent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The bill is on track to be the second largest US stimulus ever, after the $2 trillion package Donald Trump signed last March to fight the pandemic\u2019s devastating spread.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even as the Senate parliamentarian ruled against including the minimum wage language in the bill as written under budget reconciliation rules, Democrats kept the provision, highlighting their \u201cfight for 15\u201d as a top party priority. \u201cWe will not rest until we pass the $15 minimum wage,\u201d Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said. Even without the wage hike, she said the bill was critical and it would be \u201ccatastrophic\u201d if it does not become law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe American people need to know that their government is there for them,\u201d she told the chamber. \u201cAs President Biden has said, help is on the way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018Dead of night\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Republicans fumed over the bill\u2019s historically high cost — and the optics of holding such a consequential vote in pre-dawn hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDemocrats are so embarrassed by all the non-Covid waste in this bill that they are jamming it through in the dead of night,\u201d House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The measure is \u201cbloated,\u201d partisan and \u201cunfocused,\u201d with the majority of funding going to projects not directly related to fighting the pandemic, McCarthy said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He and fellow Republicans accused Democrats of using a pandemic to push forward a liberal wish list.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Washington-The US House passed an enormous, $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package early Saturday, hailed by Democrats as a critical\u00a0step\u00a0in funneling new funding toward vaccinations, overburdened local governments, and millions of families devastated by the pandemic. Four days after the Covid-19 death toll surpassed 500,000 in […]<\/p>\n
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