President Biden urged the Senate to act quickly to approve his US bailout hours after the House of Representatives barely approved the $ 1.9 trillion legislation. In brief comments on Saturday morning, Mr. Biden said he had spoken to Speaker Nancy Pelosi about the passing of the bill.
“Now the bill is going to the United States Senate, where I hope action will be taken quickly. We have no time to waste,” said Mr. Biden. “If we act decisively, quickly and courageously now, we can finally get ahead of this virus. We can finally get our economy back on track. And the people of this country have suffered far too much for too long. We need to relieve that. The American bailout does just that. ”
Two Democrats, Kurt Schrader of Oregon and Jared Golden of Maine, voted with the Republicans in the 219-212 vote early Saturday morning. Not a single Republican voted for the bill. The legislation includes $ 1,400 in direct checks for Americans earning less than $ 75,000, an additional $ 400 per week unemployment bonus, money for vaccine distribution, and funding for schools and state and local governments.
The House bill also includes a provision that increases the federal minimum wage to $ 15 an hour by 2025, although the Senate MP ruled that the bill should not include an increase in the federal minimum wage if Congress uses the budget reconciliation process. Congressional Democrats chose to use the procedural maneuver known as budget reconciliation to pass the bill, allowing it to be passed only by a simple majority in the Senate.
In the wake of the MP’s ruling, the Senate Democrats are now racing to complete a new tax provision that would penalize large companies that pay low wages. The plan drafted by aides to Senate Treasury Committee Chairman Ron Wyden of Oregon – in close consultation with Vermont Senate Budget Chairman Bernie Sanders – would impose a 5% payroll tax penalty on “very large” companies that do not pay employees a specified amount. . .
Congressional Democrats hope to get the final package to Mr. Biden’s desk in mid-March, ahead of several critical utilities set up by Congress late last year.