House to vote on Biden’s $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief package with $1,400 checks

Just days after the US crossed 500,000 deaths from coronavirus, the House is set to vote Friday evening on President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief package. 

The Democratic-governed House is expected to pass the large bill, which includes $1,400 direct payments, a $400-a-week federal unemployment bonus, a per-child budget of up to $3,600 for one year, and billions of dollars to allocate the coronavirus vaccines and to assist schools and local governments.

The economy is still reeling from broad shutdowns, and most Americans continue to wait for their turns to be vaccinated. It would be the sixth round of aid from the federal administration.

On Thursday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., told reporters that the need is great and the opportunity is there, praising the precision of this legislation to promptly address the needs of the American people, the lives of the American people, and the livelihoods.

The legislation faces strong opposition from congressional Republicans, who criticize it as a liberal want. Recent polls show that the package is prominent with most Americans, earning 66 percent support in an Economist/YouGov study and 76 percent backing in a Morning Consult/Politico survey.

On Friday, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.,  tacked it as a “costly, corrupt, and liberal ‘COVID’ package” on Twitter. “It is not clear whether any Republicans will back it, and GOP leaders are pressuring their members to vote ‘no.’ But the narrow Democratic majority can pass it on a party-line vote if it largely sticks together,” he added.

The $1,400 payments would be sent to individuals who make up to $75,000 a year or married couples making $150,000, and they would slowly reduce for those who make more, zeroing out at $100,000 for individuals and $200,000 for couples.

The House bill also contains a federal minimum wage increase from $7.25 to $15 per hour, phased in over four years. The provision which is a top progressive preference is all but doomed in the Senate after a ruling Thursday evening by the in-house referee that it infringes the chamber’s rules for legislation that can pass with a simple majority.

Biden had involved the wage hike in his proposal. In response to the ruling, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that the president is “disappointed” but “respects the parliamentarian’s decision and the Senate’s process.”

Psaki said he would “select the best path forward” on a minimum wage increase, but called on legislators to “move quickly to pass” the rest of the Covid-19 relief package in the meantime.

Pelosi said that the House is not limited by the Senate’s procedural limitations and would keep the $15 wage provision in its bill on Friday despite the parliamentarian’s decision. “House Democrats believe that the minimum wage hike is necessary,” she added.

Since 2009, the federal wage floor of $7.25 an hour hasn’t risen.

Top Senate Democrats began looking for a way to use tax penalties to push companies to pay higher wages, which is more likely to comply with the rules soon after the parliamentarian ruling. 

Senate Finance Chair Ron Wyden, Dore., said Friday he’s working on a “plan B” that would slap a 5 percent tax liability on big corporations’ overall payroll, rising over time, if their workers make less than a specific amount. It’d include “safeguards” against companies outsourcing labor or replacing workers with contractors to “avoid paying living wages,” he said.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., is planning to add “a new provision to penalize large corporations that don’t pay their workers at least a $15 minimum wage,”  to the Senate bill, said a senior Democratic aide.

The rest of the $1.9 trillion packages has huge support among Democratic lawmakers, and it is anticipated to become law, possibly with some changes in the Senate.

“If they change it, we’ll take it back and pass it and then send it to the White House, we are very excited about that,” Pelosi told reporters.

It was on Thursday, Biden pitched his relief plan at an event to mark the 50 millionth coronavirus vaccination shot, advising that new variants of the virus could cause case numbers to rise again.

“Everything is not fixed. We have a long way to go. And that day, when everything gets back to normal, depends on all of us, it depends on Congress passing the American Recovery Act,” Biden said in the event.