Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer gives a thumbs-up after passage of the American Rescue Plan (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
The US Senate passes the Biden Administration’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan to deal with Coronavirus and its economic effects, in the largest anti-poverty initiative in decades.
The package passed 50-49 on Saturday night. The vote was completely along party lines: all Democrats supported the bill, while all Republicans — bar one who was absent — refused.
The Plan now returns to the House for a final vote, expected on Tuesday.
To ensure passage by the 50 Democratic Senators, the final version reduced the extension of Federal unemployment benefit from $400/week to $300 and set the terminal date at September 6, rather than early October. A $15/hour minimum wage for Federal employees, to be instituted by 2025, was removed and may be pursued in separate legislation by the Administration.
But the package retains $14 billion for vaccine distribution, $130 billion for schools, and relief for small businesses. And it mobilizes Federal resources for the $300/week unemployment benefit; further assistance for struggling families such as $12 billion for food aid; one-time direct payments of up to $1,400 for Americans making less than $75,000/year; and $350 billion in support for states and cities.
“We Delivered for People”
Analysts estimate the Plan will cut poverty by a third this year, taking 13 million people — including 6 million children — above the line. It will potentially cut child poverty in half through expansion of tax credits, increases in subsidized child care, expanded eligibility under ObamaCare, and provision of food stamps and rental assistance.
President Joe Biden said at the White House:
Today I can say we’ve taken one more giant step forward in delivering on that promise, that help is on the way. It wasn’t always pretty, but it was so desperately needed, urgently needed.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said, “The most important thing is what we delivered for people. The danger of undershooting is far greater than the danger of overshooting, and this may have been our last chance.”
The vote was the longest in Senate history, as Republicans tried to block the Plan and Democrats ensured they retained all 50 of their senators. But the chamber’s top Republican, Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, still grumbled: “The Senate has never spent $2 trillion in a more haphazard way or through a less rigorous process.”