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Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package has been approved by the US House of Representatives in his first major legislative win.
The president’s plan to send emergency financial aid to households, small businesses, and state and local governments battered by Covid-19 passed on a near party-line 219 to 212 vote early on Saturday.
The bill will now go to the evenly-divided Senate, where Democrats face a challenge in their hopes of using the package to raise the minimum wage and where vice president Kamala Harris may have to cast a tie-breaking vote.
The American Rescue Plan would pay for vaccines and medical supplies, and includes $1,400 direct payments to individuals, a $400-per-week federal unemployment benefit through to 29 August, and help for those in difficulty paying rents and home mortgages during the coronavirus crisis.
Democrats said the package was needed to fight a pandemic that has killed more than 500,000 Americans and thrown millions out of work.
“The American people need to know that their government is there for them,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in debate on the House floor.
Democrats aim to get the bill on Mr Biden’s desk for him to sign into law before mid-March, when emergency unemployment benefits and some other types of aid are due to expire.
Republicans, who have broadly backed previous Covid-19 spending, said much of the current package was not necessary, highlighting elements like a subway near Ms Pelosi’s San Francisco district. Only 9 per cent of the total would go directly toward fighting the virus, they said.
“It just throws out money without accountability,” House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy said.
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