WASHINGTON (AP) – The House easily approved a $ 900 billion pandemic relief package Monday night that would finally bring long-sought cash to businesses and individuals and resources to vaccinate a country facing a terrifying surge in COVID-19 cases and deaths.
Lawmakers packed a summary bill of $ 1.4 trillion and thousands of pages of other cases at the end of the session in a huge bundle of bipartisan legislation as Capitol Hill prepared to close the books of the year.
The crooked vote of 359-53 was a bipartisan coda for months of bias and politicization as lawmakers argued over the relief issue, a logjam that broke after President-elect Joe Biden urged his party to compromise with top Republicans that smaller than many Democrats would have liked it.
The aid package, revealed Monday afternoon, flew through the House within hours. A vote in the Senate that would send the bill to President Donald Trump seemed likely to follow shortly.
The bill combines funds to combat the corona virus with financial support for individuals and companies. It would institute a temporary supplemental unemployment benefit of $ 300 a week and an immediate incentive payment of $ 600 for most Americans, along with a new round of grants for hard-hit businesses, restaurants and theaters and money for schools, health care providers and tenants that are being evicted. .
The 5,593-page legislation – by far the longest bill ever – met on Sunday after months of strife, postponement, and post-election negotiations that curtailed a number of democratic demands as the congressional meeting approached. President-elect Joe Biden was eager to strike a deal to bring long-awaited relief to those suffering and boost the economy, even if it was less than half the size of Democrats in the fall.
“This deal isn’t all I want – by no means,” said Rules Committee chairman Jim McGovern, D-Mass., A long-standing voice in the old-fashioned liberal wing of the party. “The choice before us is simple. It’s about whether we help families or not. It’s about whether we help small businesses and restaurants or not. It’s about whether we boost the (food supplement) benefits and enhance anti-hunger programs or not. And whether we help those facing a job loss or not. This is not a difficult decision for me. “
The Senate, meanwhile, was also on track to approve a week-long contingency plan to prevent a partial government shutdown at midnight and give Trump time to sign the sweeping legislation.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, a key negotiator, said on CNBC Monday morning that direct payments would hit bank accounts next week.
Democrats promised more aid would come once Biden took office, but Republicans showed a wait-and-see attitude.
The measure would fund the government through September, merging a year of annual spending bill action into one package that never saw the Senate committee or floor discussion.
Legislation followed a tortured path. Democrats played hardball until election day amid allegations that they wanted to deny Trump a victory that could help him triumph. Democrats denied that, but their demands did indeed become more realistic after Trump’s loss and as Biden made it clear that half a loaf was better than no loaf.
The latest bill looked a lot like a $ 1 trillion package put together by Republican Senate leaders in July, a proposal mocked at the time by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., As far too little.
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Took a victory lap after blocking much more ambitious legislation from reaching the Senate floor. He said Biden’s pragmatic approach was key.
“A few days ago, with a new president-elect from their own party, everything changed. Democrats suddenly came to our position that we needed to find consensus, make laws that we agreed on, and get urgent help out the door, ”McConnell said.
In direct payments, the bill pays $ 600 to individuals earning up to $ 75,000 per year and $ 1,200 to couples earning $ 150,000, with payments being phased out for higher incomes. An additional $ 600 will be paid per dependent child, similar to the last round of relief payments in the spring.
The $ 300 per week unemployment benefit was half of the additional federal unemployment benefit under the CARES Act of $ 1.8 billion in March. That benefit more generous and would be limited to 11 weeks instead of 16 weeks. The $ 600 direct stimulus payment was also half of the March payment.
The CARES law was credited with keeping the economy from falling off a cliff during widespread spring lockdowns, but Senate-controlled Republicans cited debt problems in countering Democratic demands.
“Anyone who thinks this bill is enough has not heard the despair in the votes of his constituents, has not looked in the eyes of a small business owner who was on the brink of extinction,” said the Democratic leader. the Senate, Chuck Schumer, a lifelong New Yorker who was pushing hard for money to help his city’s transportation systems, tenants, theaters and restaurants.
Progress came after a bipartisan group of pragmatists and moderates devised a $ 908 billion plan that built a middle position that the top four leaders of Congress – the GOP and the Democratic leaders of both the House and Senate – used as the basis for their talks. Lawmakers urged leaders on both sides to pull out of the hardline.
“Sometimes we felt like we were in the wilderness because people on all sides of the aisle wouldn’t give up, to give the other side a win,” said freshman Rep. Elssa Slotkin, D-Mich. “And it was frankly gross to watch.”
Republicans most planned to revive the Paycheck Protection Program with $ 284 billion, which would cover a second round of PPP grants to particularly hard-hit companies. Democrats won stand by for low-income and minority communities.
The sizable bill also includes $ 25 billion in rental assistance, $ 15 billion for theaters and other live venues, $ 82 billion for local schools, colleges and universities, and $ 10 billion for childcare.
The government credits bill would likely provide a final $ 1.4 billion installment for the US-Mexico border wall as a condition of getting his signature. The Pentagon would receive $ 696 billion. Democrats and Senate Republicans prevailed in an effort to use accounting maneuvers to squeeze $ 12.5 billion more for domestic programs into legislation.
The bill was a driving force to carry out much of Capitol Hill’s unfinished business, including a nearly 400-page water resources bill that aims at $ 10 billion for 46 Army Corps of Engineers flood control, environmental, and coastal defense projects. Another addition would extend a series of tax breaks that are about to expire, such as one for craft brewers, wineries, and distillers.
It would also include plenty of clean energy amenities the Democrats are looking for with fossil fuel incentives that Republicans prefer, $ 7 billion to increase broadband access, $ 4 billion to help other countries build their vaccinate people, $ 14 billion for cashless transit systems, $ 1 billion for Amtrak, and $ 2 billion for airports and concessionaires. Food stamp benefits would be temporarily increased by 15%.
The Senate Historic Office said the previous record for the length of the legislation was the 2,847-page tax reform bill of 1986 – about half the size of Monday’s behemoth.