The $1.9 trillion stimulus plan moves forward without Republican support

The $1.9 trillion stimulus plan being pushed by the US government to combat the global economic crisis made a breakthrough in Congress on Friday, but without the bipartisan support that President Joe Biden had hoped for.

The budget bill passed the Senate in the early hours of last night, but thanks to the vote of Vice President Kamala Harris, who as speaker of the upper house decides the vote in the event of a tie.
Hours later, the House of Representatives did the same, although also with a split vote between the two parties. 

Approval in the Senate came shortly after 5.30am local time (10.30am GMT) after a 15-hour session in which some 45 amendments were debated.
Harris' final vote broke a 50-50 tie among senators.

And in the lower house the support was 219 votes in favour and 209 against, with the majority of legislators also following party lines, which clears its final approval for the next few weeks, although without the Republican support that Biden was seeking.

The bill must now be developed and drafted in detail by several congressional committees, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, said she hoped final passage could be within two weeks.

The proposal includes $1,400 checks to taxpayers, a $400 weekly unemployment benefit, and $350 billion to help state and local governments cope with the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

It also includes an increase in the minimum wage to $15 an hour for the entire country, and more funding for child care, school funding and vaccine distribution.

Unemployment benefits from the previous stimulus package are scheduled to expire in mid-March, so passage of this one would come in time to continue protection for many families who have lost their jobs due to the pandemic. 

On the $1,400 per taxpayer check included in the plan, Democrats have expressed their intention to limit it to low- and middle-income families, while Senate Republicans proposed leaving out undocumented immigrants, a measure that passed with the support of eight Democratic lawmakers.

Biden has made the $1.9 trillion economic recovery plan his top priority since taking office on 20 January, but the proposal met with objections from Republicans who consider it too expensive.

According to conservatives - one group of whom had proposed a $600 billion package - with the country's economy recovering, there is no need to spend $1.9 trillion after the stimulus passed last year since the start of the pandemic.

Congress passed a $2.3 trillion plan in March last year and a $900 billion plan in December, both of which included checks for taxpayers to help revive the economy, as well as protections against evictions and contributions to extend unemployment benefits.

Biden has renounced Republican support for this recovery plan and today suggested that prolonging negotiations with the opposition in Congress would only cause delays.

"Too many people in the nation have already suffered for too long ... in good conscience, I can't do that," he said of prolonging negotiations.

He had earlier alluded to the unemployment figures announced today, which put the unemployment rate at 6.3% in January, the lowest since the start of the pandemic, but said that at the current rate of job creation "it will be ten years before we reach full employment". At the outbreak of the coronavirus crisis, the country was close to full employment, but while unemployment stood at 3.5 % a year ago, it rose to 14.7 % in April and has been falling ever since, but in recent months the labour market has been slower.

"People are really suffering, they are being evicted," insisted Biden, who also referred to the effects of the crisis on mental health, drug abuse and violence against women.

For their part, Republican senators have accused the Democrats of being hypocrites, by expressing intentions to reach a bipartisan agreement and then approving the recovery plan with the strength of their steamroller as they control both houses of Congress.

"Despite the real needs and all the dialectic about bipartisan unity, Democrats in Congress are moving forward and using this budget cheat to set the table and pass their preliminary $1.9 trillion draft, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell told reporters.

"This is no time for billions of dollars to make permanent (covid-19 business) closures and economic decline a little more palatable", McConnell added.