WASHINGTON – A vote on President Biden’s $ 1.9 trillion coronavirus rescue package could take place by the end of next week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday.
With former President Donald Trump’s impeachment process over, Congress’s attention is turning to passing Biden’s “ American Rescue Plan, ” which included another round of $ 1,400 checks for eligible Americans and a boost to federal unemployment. includes.
The Democrats have decided to ram the package through Congress using a rare tactic known as “budget reconciliation,” which allows them to bypass any Republican contradiction and get through the bailout with a simple majority vote.
Individual committees have gone into the details of the package, including a possible $ 15 minimum wage increase, before it is presented to the House floor.
“That will then go to the Rules Committee which we can vote on sometime at the end of next week, I hope,” Pelosi told reporters during her weekly briefing Thursday.
“I feel like we’ve been working the staff 24/7 for several weeks now to make sure we stay on track with the US bailout, the Biden plan,” she said.
The massive package is Biden’s first legislative battle as president and was the sole focus of his administration that refused to publicly go into the process of impeaching Trump in the Senate.
Biden and members of his cabinet have urged lawmakers to “go big” in another round of coronavirus aid to aid the country’s dizzying economy after a year of mandatory lockdown.
But many Republicans, who have submitted their own $ 600 billion counter-proposal, believe that such a big stimulus bill is unnecessary and would only add to the rising national debt.
Biden also faced dissent from several moderate Democratic party members, including West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, who has called for more targeted stimulus controls.