This story was updated at 5:38 p.m. on March 10.
WASHINGTON — The U.S. House of Representatives voted Wednesday to approve the final version of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, a bill that ushers a new round of federal aid and economic relief in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has killed 527,000 Americans and continues to wreak havoc on struggling sectors of the economy.
The 622-page legislation — passed seven weeks after President Joe Biden took office and one year after the first wave of U.S. pandemic restrictions roiled the country — was supported by all but one Democrat, Rep. Jared Golden of Maine, and opposed by all Republicans. The vote was 220 to 211. Mr. Biden said he looks forward to signing the bill on Friday.
The bill includes $1,400 direct checks for most Americans, an extension of $300 supplemental weekly unemployment benefits through Sept. 6, $350 billion for state and local governments, emergency loans for small businesses, tax credits to parents, health care expansion and multi-employer pension reform, mental health and substance abuse grants, among a slew of other measures.
“This legislation is about giving the backbone of this nation — the essential workers, the working people who built this country, the people who keep this country going — a fighting chance,” Mr. Biden said in a statement shortly after the vote.
Pennsylvania is set to receive $7.3 billion in aid, while local governments will share $6.1 billion. The City of Pittsburgh will receive roughly $355 million, and Allegheny County would receive about $383 million, according to updated data circulated this week by the House Oversight and Reform Committee.
Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto, who said he personally lobbied lawmakers for direct funding for the city, praised the measure.
“We will avoid the layoffs and give the same amount of services that people will have expected the past few years and to not only guarantee it for this year but next year as well,” Mr. Peduto said.
The bill notches a significant legislative accomplishment for Mr. Biden and Congressional Democrats who shepherded it through narrow majorities in both chambers.
Unlike the previous five COVID-19 relief bills, this one was assembled and advanced unilaterally by Democrats, who took control of Congress and the White House in January. Democrats passed the bill through budget reconciliation, a fast-track process that worked around the Senate filibuster rule that usually requires 60 votes to advance legislation.
And it makes a big bet that heavy government spending, on social safety net expansions, can muscle the nation through the end of the pandemic.
All six bills combined, Congress has now authorized a total of $5.5 trillion on COVID-19 relief in the last 12 months — more than the $4.8 trillion, in today’s dollars, that the U.S. government spent on World War II.
Republicans unanimously rejected the need for legislation of that scope, deeming it wasteful government spending designed to appease liberals rather than focus on the pandemic response.
GOP lawmakers raised concerns that the bill could stoke inflation and slow economic recovery, proposing instead that existing federal allocations be spent and that economic restrictions be lifted. They pointed to record-high savings rates among Americans as evidence that the economy will quickly return to previous levels.
Wednesday’s House vote was to concur with amendments the Senate made last week to the initial version of the bill, which the House passed on Feb. 27.
Among those amendments, Senate Democrats shelved the $15 minimum wage, shaved $100 from weekly unemployment benefits and lowered the income restrictions on who is eligible for the $1,400 checks. The Senate approved the bill with 50 votes plus a tie-breaking vote by Vice President Kamala Harris.
Lawmakers from Western Pennsylvania split along party lines.
Rep. Mike Doyle, D-Forest Hills, said in a statement that the bill “will save lives, help our struggling neighbors, help reopen our schools safely, and help put our economy on the path to recovery.” He said the “need to pass this bill couldn’t be more urgent.”
“Help is on the way, and Western Pennsylvania deserves every dollar,” added Rep. Conor Lamb, D-Mt. Lebanon. “Family budgets, union pensions, schools, transit agencies, and the airport will all be stronger because of this bill.”
Meanwhile, Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, R-Peters, called it a “progressive payoff” that “has little to do with the ongoing pandemic.” He characterized the state and local government funding as “unnecessary bailouts to blue states who imposed draconian shutdowns.” The money is allocated to every state and thousands of municipalities across the country.
“Instead of fulfilling his promises of ‘unity’ and ‘bipartisanship,’ President Biden’s first legislative priority is a far left progressive wish list,” Mr. Reschenthaler stated.
Rep. John Joyce, R-Blair, similarly called the bill “a progressive wish list that prioritizes political stunts over support for hardworking Americans,” and stated the bill would “destroy jobs, incentivize endless lockdowns, and keep our small businesses closed.”
Despite the partisan vote, Democrats are leaning on the widespread support the legislation has garnered among Americans, according to recent polling data.
A Politico/Morning Consult poll published Wednesday found 75% of registered voters support the bill — including 59% of Republicans and 55% of people who voted for former president Donald Trump in 2020. The poll, conducted March 6 to March 8, found just 18% of all Americans oppose it.
That poll found 21% of all voters, and 35% of Republican voters, believed the bill offered “too much support.”
Yet Republicans railed against the bill during the two hours of floor debate that led up to the vote.
Twenty minutes into the session, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga. — who last month was stripped of her committee assignments for her adherence to conspiracy theories and previous statements that advocated for violence against sitting lawmakers — motioned to adjourn, a procedural delay tactic that pushed back the start of debate by about an hour. Forty Republicans voted against that motion.
Democrats argued the plan was necessary to address the full, complex array of needs across the country, with a focus on lifting up poorer Americans that have been disproportionately affected by the crisis.
“We have acted with the urgency this pandemic demands,” Rep. John Yarmuth, D-Ky., chair of the House Budget Committee. “The American Rescue Plan is aggressive, no doubt about it, but researchers and health professionals have told us, this is what’s needed … to save lives and defeat this pandemic once and for all.”
Republicans framed the bill in terms of cost per taxpayer and government borrowing.
Rep. Lloyd Smucker, R-Lancaster, said, “This bill may have made sense a year ago, but why would we print and borrow $2 trillion when we’re so close to crushing this virus and returning a way of life that all Americans sacrificed.”
Rep. Tom Rice, R-S.C., called it “a ram job by the liberals to push through a vastly expanded entitlement system.”
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., portrayed Democrats as corrupt, saying the bill for taxpayers was like an email scam on the internet that tricks people into wiring them money while giving them nothing in return.
“It showers money on special interests,” he said, parroting a GOP claim — labeled “half-true” by PolitiFact — that just 9% of the bill will be spent on the COVID-19 response. That number is apparently calculated by focusing on the $160 billion that would go towards COVID-19 testing, protective gear, vaccine production and distribution and disregarding all the other elements.
Mr. Yarmuth responded that Mr. McCarthy was peddling “misinformation” and cited the bill’s wide popularity among Americans. “The American people understand that this is the appropriate step to take,” Mr. Yarmuth said.
When the final vote was announced, Democrats stood up and cheered.
Daniel Moore: dmoore@post-gazette.com, Twitter @PGdanielmoore. Ashley Murray contributed reporting.
First Published: March 10, 2021, 7:12 p.m.
Updated: March 10, 2021, 7:14 p.m.
