Takeaways from the COVID-19 stimulus bill passing Congress: Weeks of partisan fighting comes to an end with a win for Biden – USA TODAY
The House first passed the bill in February, but after the Senate made provision, it came back to the representatives for approval. USA TODAY
WASHINGTON The latest COVID-19 relief packagehas now passed the Senate and House, and will soon be on it's way to President Joe Biden's desk.
The legislation, dubbed the American Rescue Plan,includes$1,400 stimulus checks, billions of dollars for vaccines, and money to reopen schools.
While Biden and Democrats are cheering the bill as a victory in the quest to fight the impacts of the coronavirus crisis, Republicans say the bill is wasteful and full of provisions that don't address the virus. No Republicans vote for the billin either chamber of Congress..
Here are sometakeaways of the bill's passage through Congress and what happens next:
The American Rescue plan madeit through Congress with only Democratic support, makingitstandout from the bipartisan COVID reliefplans Congress passed over the last year.
Though the two sides squabbled over priorities in each of the previous packages that cleared Congress,allwere approved with members of both parties in support except the one approved Wednesday.
More: Biden's relief bill isn't getting bipartisan support like previous stimulus bills. What do Republicans dislike so much?
Live updates: Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID-19 stimulus plan expected to get final passage Wednesday
The final vote Saturdayin the Senate was 50-49 with all Republicans voting against the measure and all members of the Senate Democratic caucus supporting it. Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, was not present for the vote. In the House,it didn't earn a single Republican vote in the two times the bill came to a vote.
Biden ran on his ability to broker bipartisanefforts on Capitol Hill, drawing onhis 36 years in the Senate and eight years as vice president.Republicans haveviewedthe bill as a betrayal of thebipartisanship Biden embracedand spoke of during his campaign.
Surrounded by Democratic House and Senate committee chairs, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., sign the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill during a bill enrollment ceremony on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday. The bill now goes to President Joe Biden, who will sign the bill into law Friday.(Photo: Drew Angerer, Getty Images)
Republican lawmakers described the stimulus planas a "clunker,""bad politics" and wildly expensive."
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., described it as a "laundry list of leftwing priorities" that "do not meet the needs of American families."
"It is very liberal," he said. "They called this the most progressive piece of legislation in history. For those who are watching, progressive means socialism."
Rep. Jason Smith, R-Mo., called the legislation a progressive wish list forced down by the Democrat party.
Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., said in a statement he was "glad to know" his constituents would get a stimulus payment and other benefits of the bill, but explained why he voted against it.
But the legislation passed today is one of the largest expenditures in American historywith spending unrelated to the COVID-19 pandemic and Republicans were left out of all negotiations," he continued, saying the legislation"still manages to spend way too much money".
Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo.,the House Republican Conference chair, saidin a statementthe bill "does far more harm than good, and the damage it does will only make our recovery efforts more difficult."
The bill sailed through the House despite complaints from progressive Democrats who believed too many concessions were made to moderate Democrats when the bill passed Senate on Saturday.
The final vote was 220-211, with oneDemocrat Rep. Jared Golden of Maine opposing it,saying it would borrow and spend far more than is needed.
Borrowing and spending hundreds of billions more in excess of meeting the most urgent needs poses a risk to both our economic recovery and the priorities I would like to work with the Biden administration to achieve, like rebuilding our nations infrastructure and fixing our broken and unaffordable healthcare system, Goldensaid in a statement on Wednesday.
Golden also opposed the House's first vote on the legislation in late February before it went to the Senate. The bill had to go through the House one last time because of changes made in the Senate.
Rep.Kurt Schrader,D-Ore., voted against the first bill in February, but supported the Senate's modified legislation during Wednesday's vote.
With Democrats controlling both chambers of Congress, some Republicanspulled out all the stops in attempts todelay voting on the legislation.
Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., forced the Senate to begin reading all628 pagesofBiden's COVID billaloud on the Senate floor Thursday.
More: Republican Sen. Ron Johnson forces Senate to read all 628 pages of Biden's COVID bill aloud
Johnson said his tactic was about educating the American public on what was in the$1.9 trillion package, which he has derided as full of provisions unrelated to COVID relief.The entire process took more than10 hours.
Then senators were allowed to bring upamendments to the bill. The rapid succession of votes on each proposed change is dubbed a "vote-a-rama."
Republican Senators filed nearly 600 amendments, but only brought forth a fraction of those for debate. It was enough to draw out the voting session for more than 24 hours,keeping senators voting from from Friday morning into Saturday.
More: Senate OKs extension of $300 weekly unemployment benefit after long delay
One issue, unemployment insurance, was stalled by Democratic senators for most of the day Friday as they negotiated behind closed doors,focusing on the vote from Sen. Joe Manchin, a moderate Democrat from West Virginiawho expressed interest in plans from Republicans and Democrats.
During the House's session on Wednesday, before lawmakers began debating on the legislation,Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greeneforced the House to delay debatingand voting on the stimulus billby forcing a vote to adjourn House proceedings ahead of the debate. The effort failed.
Signing COVID-19 reliefhas been Biden's chief legislative priority sincehe beganhis presidency.
He's stressed the aid is sorely needed for Americans battling the economic impacts of the pandemic and repeatedlypushed for Congress to pass the bill quickly.
More: With passage of COVID-19 relief plan imminent, Biden delivers a final sales pitch
On the campaign trail, and in the first hours of his presidency, Biden promised to pass massive relief in Congress.
In announcing the American Rescue Plan on the same day as his inauguration, Biden called the smaller, bipartisan legislation passed in December "a down payment."
The White House described the new legislation as "ambitious, but achievable, and will rescue the American economy and start beating the virus."
Several polls show the latest package enjoys wide popularity, particularly the direct payments to Americans.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., praised the bill as part of Biden's legacy, calling it the "Biden American Rescue Plan."
We will get to work immediately to deliver lifesaving resources springing from this bill as soon as it is passed and signed as we join President Biden. in his promise that at last help is on the way," she said.
More: Polls find most Americans support Biden's COVID-19 stimulus package
Republicans in the Senate were successful in changing several key portions of the legislation.
Some House Democrats gripedover the modificationsmade to the legislation particularly the removal of a $15 federal minimum wage hikewhen the bill cameback to their chamber for avote Wednesday. But those peevedprogressives set aside their misgivings, and approved the Senate changes.
A federal hourly minimum wage increase was included in the version of the relief bill that was approved by the House last month. But it was stripped from the Senate versionafter the Senate parliamentarian foundit to be against budgetrules. Senate Democrats'attempt to reinsert a $15 minimum wage provision Friday also failed when eight Democratic caucus members voted with all Senate Republicans against Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders proposal.
More: Some House progressives aren't happy with Senate version of COVID relief package. Here's what changed.
Like the House version, the Senate bill includes$1,400 stimulus checks to Americans but it lowered the income eligibility for taxpayers getting the payments.Under the Senate bill, the checks phase out forindividuals making $80,000 per year and $160,000 for couples.
Roughly 8 million fewer households will get a check under the Senate bill compared with what the House passed, according to an analysis from the Tax Policy Center.
More: $1,400 checks are coming in the new coronavirus relief bill. Here's who will get them, and who won't.
The House bill extended federal unemployment benefits through August and increased that aid to $400 a week, but the final bill only extends the enhanced unemployment benefits through August at $300 a week.
The House vote was the final legislative hurdle for the legislation.
It now goes to Biden, who will sign the bill into law Friday, the White House said.
More: $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill with $1,400 stimulus checks passes House, heads to President Biden for signature
"This legislation is about giving the backbone of this nation the essential workers, the working people who built this country, the people who keep this country going a fighting chance," Biden said in a statement following the vote.
"On Friday, I look forward to signing the American Rescue Plan into law at the White House a peoples law at the peoples house."
After the bill is signed into law, the IRS may begin delivering stimuluschecks within one to two weeks.
"Middle-class Western New York households will be getting a $1,400 check in the mail in about two weeks," said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. "They should get them by the end of March, so it'll be a nice Easter present for everybody."
More: With the economy healing, is Biden's $1.9T COVID-19 relief package too much?
Contributing: Michael Collins, Nicholas Wu,Sarah Elbeshbishi, Christal Hayes, Ledyard King
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Takeaways from the COVID-19 stimulus bill passing Congress: Weeks of partisan fighting comes to an end with a win for Biden - USA TODAY
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