PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The final vote on the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package is scheduled to take place in the U.S. House on Wednesday. If the bill passes, it will make its way to President Joe Biden’s desk for him to sign.
There will be two hours of debate, with congressional Republicans and Democrats getting equal time to make their case. Lawmakers will be voting on the version of the bill that the Senate passed along party lines on Saturday, 50-49.
“It’s a remarkable, historic, transformative piece of legislation, which goes a very long way to crushing the virus and solving our economic crisis,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Tuesday.
Democrats say the bill, known as the American Rescue Plan, will help families that are still struggling and give a needed boost to the economy as it continues to recover from the affects of the pandemic. Republicans have been railing against the size of the bill and what a lot of the money is going towards.
“It’s not focused on COVID relief. It’s focused on pushing more of the far-left agenda,” said Rep. Steve Scalise, Republican of Louisiana.
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The package includes funding for $1,400 checks for most Americans — individuals making up to $75,000 a year. The payments are $2,800 for married couples who make up to $150,000, with an additional $1,400 for each dependent.
“As the president said, once the bill is passed we’ll be able to start getting payments out this month,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said on Tuesday. “The first batch of payments will go to all taxpayers who provided direct deposit in their 2019 or 2020 returns. Followed by taxpayers who didn’t provide that information but for whom the IRS has payment information from other programs.”
Psaki added the checks will not have Biden’s name on them but, instead, “be signed by a career official at the Bureau of Fiscal Service.” Former President Donald Trump’s signature appeared on checks for the two previous rounds of COVID-19 relief payments.
The bill also includes $300 a week for unemployed people through September. Millions of Americans were slated to lose those benefits on March 14. Cities and states would get $350 billion in the package. Democrats were unable to get this funding in the previous COVID-19 relief bills when Republicans had control of the Senate. GOP lawmakers argue most cities and states are doing better than expected, while Democrats say their budgets have been stretched thin because of pandemic-related costs and revenue losses.
There is also money for vaccines, schools, and the Paycheck Protection Program for businesses.