Senate Republican leaders on Tuesday vowed to fight President Biden’s $ 1.9 trillion COVID-19 stimulus bill, calling it “useless” and specifically toward the $ 140 million rail project near House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s San Fistisco district pointed to.
The bill passed the House last week and is expected to be passed in one form or another this week to the Senate following a series of votes on amendments.
“This is an increasingly expensive proposition largely unrelated to the problem. About 9 percent of the money is in the health care space. Less than 1 percent is related to vaccination, ”Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) Said at a press conference.
“We will fight it in every way that we can. It is my hope that in the end, Senate Republicans will unanimously oppose it. “
McConnell said Biden and the Democrats chose to use budget cohesion to force through the proposal because it could not otherwise articulate the 60-vote threshold required for most bills to pass the Senate.
“This package should have been negotiated on a bipartisan basis, as was done in the last five bills. Instead, the new administration decided to warn us, only to do one side, to take advantage of the reconciliation process to try to get several other items completely unrelated to COVID-19, ”he said. They said.
Other Republican senators slammed items in the bill.
“This is the same as Nancy Pelosi receiving $ 140 million for her love of Silicon Valley. The people of America deserve better. Joe Biden must return to the speech he gave at the inauguration. He went on to Bipartiship Asked to return to campaign on unity, ”said Sen. John Barraso (R-Wyo).
The bill includes $ 1,400 incentive checks for adults earning up to $ 75,000 per year, small checks for high earners and nothing for people earning more than $ 100,000. For each dependent child, the bill authorizes an additional $ 1,400 payment.
It subsidizes federal unemployment insurance at $ 400 per week through August.
For parents, it authorizes a $ 3,600 annual tax credit per child under age 6 and $ 3,000 per child by age 17. Those funds are phased out for those earning over $ 150,000 plus $ 75,000 or joint filers. A bill of less than four incomes for a family of 150,000 can exceed $ 14,000. Analysis from CNBC.
Other provisions include $ 350 billion for state and local governments. New York City is expected to receive about $ 5.6 billion when the bill passes. The state government will receive about $ 12.7 billion, on the assumption Rape released by Caroline Maloney (D-NY).
The bill includes $ 75 billion for vaccination, testing and other epidemic medical supplies. And it adds $ 7.2 billion to the paycheck protection program, which allows small businesses to be eligible for payroll and overhead loans. The PPP program was remodeled in December with $ 484 billion in new funds.
But Republicans note that the bill will not cost a lot of money after the epidemic ends.
For example, the bill includes $ 129 billion for K-12 schools, but the Congressional Budget Office estimates that about 95 percent will not be spent in 2021, because funds approved for schools have not been spent last year .
Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) At a Republican press conference said that “the bill we’re talking about is designed to get children back to school.”
“In fact,” he said, “if there was a solution to the money then there would be no problem. We have already appropriated $ 67.5 billion dollars for elementary and secondary education. As of February. I think $ 5.1 billion spent.” So $ 60 billion is available to bring children back to school, and it is not being used for any purpose. “
The Senate is expected to place a “vote-a-ram” on the legislation before its final passage this week. Those votes on the amendments reveal the Democratic divide. During the most recent votes, two Senate Democrats overturned Biden’s decision before hitting the voting Keystone XL oil pipeline to preempt their votes.
The House version of the bill includes a $ 15 minimum wage proposal that would not be allowed in the Senate bill, according to the upper chamber lawmaker.
Control over the Senate is evenly divided, but relations are severed by Vice-President Kamala Harris, who cast her first tie-breaking vote last month to approve an early-stage democratic position for the bill.
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