Biden’s $1.9tn stimulus package set for final vote in US House

Joe Biden’s $1.9tn coronavirus relief package is expected to clear a vote in the US House of Representatives on Wednesday, marking a milestone in the administration’s first 100 days as the new president seeks to mitigate fallout from the coronavirus pandemic and reboot the US economy.

The House, which is controlled by Democrats, passed the American Rescue Act — the second-largest economic stimulus bill in US history — for the first time last month. The bill was then revised and approved by the Senate in a party-line vote last weekend. It will need to be approved again by the House before it can be sent to Biden for his signature.

The updated bill includes a new round of means-tested direct payments of up to $1,400 for most American adults, a weekly top-up of up to $300 in federal unemployment benefits, another $350bn in aid to state and local governments, and an expansion of tax credits for children.

In a speech on Tuesday evening, Janet Yellen, the US Treasury secretary, made one of her most extensive public appeals for the bill.

“If we do our job, I am confident that Americans will make it to the other side of this pandemic — and be met there by some measure of prosperity,” she said. “[It] will finally allow us to do what most of us came to government for — not simply to fight fires and resolve crises, but to build a better country.”

Biden has made the legislation a top priority since taking office earlier this year. Its passage will clear a path for the president to shift focus to other items on his agenda, such as expanding infrastructure spending or reforming voting laws.

Biden is scheduled to address the nation in a televised primetime speech on Thursday, following the bill’s expected passage.

Jen Psaki, White House press secretary, said the president would use the address to “talk about Covid, what we have been through as a country, and what the path forward looks like”.

Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic speaker of the House, on Tuesday said she had no concerns about the bill passing the lower chamber of Congress, which her party controls by a narrow margin.

“[The bill] is so exciting, as you know, because of what it does: vaccines in the arms of the American people, money in their pockets, children safely in schools, workers safely back to work,” Pelosi said.

“It is a remarkable, historic, transformative piece of legislation which goes a very long way towards crushing the virus and solving our economic crisis.”

Psaki on Tuesday reiterated Biden’s vow to send the direct payments to American families within the month. She noted that unlike the two previous rounds of cheques sent under the Trump administration, the next round of payments would not include the president’s signature.

“We are doing everything in our power to expedite the payments and not delay them, which is why the president’s name will not appear on the memo line of this round of stimulus cheques,” Psaki said.

“The cheques will be signed by a career official at the bureau of fiscal service,” she added. “This is not about [Biden]. It is about the American people getting relief.”

The sweeping bill is likely to become law despite lacking support from a single Republican in Congress. Many Republicans have said the broad package — which comes just months after a $900bn Covid relief package in December, and nearly one year after the $2.3tn Cares Act — is not “targeted” enough to support the American families and businesses hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic.

Bharat Ramamurti, the White House deputy director of the National Economic Council, on Tuesday defended the size and scope of the bill, citing a Moody’s forecast that suggested the legislation could add an extra 7m jobs to the US economy by the end of the year.

Ramamurti also played down concerns about any effect it might have on inflation or the federal deficit.

“Our belief has been from the beginning that the risk of doing too little to help American families outweighed the risk of doing too much,” Ramamurti said. “That said, we are always carefully monitoring inflation, and we will continue to do.

“The president has made clear that being fiscally responsible is a priority of his. He has also made clear that right now, one of the best things that we can do is deficit finance these investments because that is what gets the economy moving more quickly.”