Biden calls on Senate to approve new COVID-19 financial assistance package

The package, which aims to provide financial support to businesses, government institutions, as well as millions of Americans whose lives are affected by the pandemic, will now be passed on to the Senate after being approved by the House of Representatives.

This country's “People have suffered for many years”, the president said in comments from the White House before leaving for his country, Delauer, for the weekend. We need to ease your suffering. That's what the American Rescue Plan does. It relieves suffering. Now is the time to act”, the president said.

Votes in the House of Representatives

The House of Representatives approved the new financial assistance package for President Joe Biden's ward-19, worth $1.9 trillion, intended to help businesses, governments and millions of Americans damaged by the consequences of the coronary pandemic.

Lawmakers voted in party lines in the Chamber of Representatives controlled by the Democrats. The package was approved by 219 votes against 212 as opposed. Its approval has put President Beden on track for his first major legislative victory since taking office on January 20th.

The aid package will have to be adopted in the 100-member Senate, equally divided between Democrats and Republicans and Democrat Vice President Kamala Harris, has the crucial vote.

The Democrats, who have the narrow advantage in the House of Representatives, argued that the package is necessary to revive the economy and fight the COVID-19 pandemic, which has claimed the lives of more than 510 thousand Americans. Republicans oppose the high cost of the bill.

The package covers the costs of vaccines and other medical equipment and provides $1,400 in direct payments to most Americans. It also provides emergency financial relief for local and state governments, as well as business sectors damaged by the economic consequences of pandemic, such as restaurant and airline industries.

The package will also cover spending on unemployment benefits and tax relief for low-income Americans and families with children, as well as providing assistance to small businesses.

The rise of the minimum federal wage from $7.25 to 15 dollars an hour was proposed by the Democrats in the final version of the package, but is unlikely to pass into the Senate. The Senate's parliamentary rules expert said on Thursday that, in order, the proposal must be removed from the bill.

The decision by the Senate's parliamentary rules expert, Elizabeth MacDonough, forced the Democrats to seek other ways for the minimum wage proposal to be adopted in the face of a fierce republican opposition.

House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Friday that the Democrats would not give up the minimum federal wage hike.

If you don't pass through the Senate rules, we'll insist... we won't stop until very soon we pass the minimum wage of $15”, she said at a press conference.

Republicans were in advance against the plan, considering it at excessive cost and an excessive effort to help democratic allies, such as labour unions and Democrats-led states.

This is making political war a confrontation whose winner will be seen by the population's response to these crisis conditions. Pandemia has killed over half a million Americans, left millions without jobs, and transformed the daily lives of almost all Americans.

The battle is also emerging as an early test of the Biden presidency's ability to preserve the fragile majority his party enjoys at the congress with only 10 votes in the House of Representatives and a Senate equally 50 to 50.

The Democrats say the economy is still fragile, and the cruelly spreading coronary requires action. They seem determined to try again to raise the minimum wage, and heated debates may arise on other issues. VOA