The U.S. House of Representatives has approved President Joe Biden's plan to address the humanitarian and economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, allocating $1.9 trillion for this purpose. The plan will subsequently be reviewed by the U.S. Senate.
The House moved toward a late-night vote on the COVID-19 aid bill on Friday, with Democrats narrowly controlling the chamber, resulting in a party-line approval vote of 219 to 210. With Republicans aligned in opposition and criticizing the plan as overly expensive, Democrats argued that the package is essential to combat a pandemic that has claimed the lives of over 500,000 Americans and disrupted millions of jobs.
The bill will cover the costs of vaccines and medical supplies, and it will provide a new round of emergency financial aid to families, small businesses, and state and local governments. Key components of the plan include direct payments of $1,400 to individuals, a federal unemployment benefit of $400 per week until August 29, and assistance for those struggling to pay rent and mortgages during the pandemic.
Democrats aim to pass Biden's bill before mid-March, but their path has been complicated as they cannot include an increase in the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour in the package. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi predicted that the bill would pass Congress with or without the wage increase, stating that Democrats would not abandon the issue. According to Reuters, Pelosi is pushing to pass the bill in the House before sending it to the evenly divided Senate, where Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris holds the tie-breaking vote.
