A massive $1.9 trillion coronavirus stimulus bill containing $1,400 checks for most Americans along with money for vaccines, testing, schools, states and lower-income families passed the U.S. House Wednesday, its final stop before reaching President Joe Biden’s desk.
Biden, who made the stimulus bill his first major legislative initiative since taking office in January, said he would sign the measure on Friday.
“For weeks now, an overwhelming percentage of Americans – Democrats, independents, and Republicans – have made it clear they support the American Rescue Plan,” Biden said in a statement after the vote. “Today, with final passage in the House of Representatives, their voice has been heard.”
During the debate, Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., D-9th Dist., said he had heard from constituents asking for assistance to get through the coronavirus-induced economic downturn.
“It’s up to us to help Americans who can’t buy their groceries or pay the rent and are not in prison,” Pascrell said on the House floor. “It’s up to us to protect seniors in nursing homes. It’s up to us to ensure that every American has quality health insurance and is able to get vaccinated.”
“Americans are crying out for help,” he said. “Can you hear them? They have given us the burden to act.”
The bill, which the House needed to take up again after the Senate amended it over the weekend, passed along party lines, 220-211. Only one Democrat, Rep. Jared Golden of Maine, opposed the legislation.
No Republicans in either chamber voted for the measure, which included funds to curb the spread of the virus through vaccines and testing, and to pump billions of dollars into an American economy ravaged by the pandemic.
“This isn’t a rescue bill,” said House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy of California. “It isn’t a relief bill. It’s a laundry list of leftwing priorities that predate the pandemic and do not meet the needs of American families.”
Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said the Republicans got it wrong.
“If you want to fight the virus, you should be voting yes on this bill,” said Pallone, D-6th Dist., during the debate. “Unlike under President Trump when we had no national plan to fight the virus, under President Biden, for the first time, we have a national plan to fight the virus that does not force state and local governments to compete against each other.”
The $1,400 direct payments would go to individuals making up to $75,000 and $2,800 to couples filing jointly making up to $150,000. They would phase out and end for individuals making more than $80,000 and couples making more than $160,000.
Those on unemployment would receive an extra $300 a week through Sept. 6, and those making less than $150,000 would not have to pay federal income taxes on the first $10,200 of unemployment benefits for individuals and $20,400 for married couples. New Jersey does not tax unemployment insurance benefits.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the payments should go out by the end of the month, and they will not contain Biden’s signature, unlike the earlier checks that bore the name of Donald Trump.
“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 checks,” Psaki said Tuesday at her daily press briefing. “He didn’t think that was a priority or a necessary step. His focus was on getting them out as quickly as possible.”
Thanks in part to the expanded tax credits for lower-income households with or without children, the legislation would lift an estimated 16 million Americans out of poverty, according to the Urban Institute, a research group.
The expanded child tax credit alone would bring more than 4 million children of poverty, including 89,000 in New Jersey, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a progressive research group.
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The legislation would provide $350 billion in long-sought aid for state and local governments, including $10.2 billion for New Jersey and its municipalities.
“This is a big positive deal for New Jersey,” Gov. Phil Murphy said Wednesday at his coronavirus press briefing. “There’s no other way to put it.”
The president and chief executive of the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce, Tom Bracken, also applauded the House action.
“It helps New Jersey in many ways, providing vital aid to those impacted by the pandemic,” Bracken said.
Studies by the Brookings Institution and S&P Global said the legislation would return the economy to pre-pandemic levels this summer, and Moody’s Analytics said the plan would help create 7.5 million jobs this year and another 2.5 million next year, fully recovering all the jobs lost due to the coronavirus. More than 150 business leaders endorsed the spending plan.
Republicans objected to the Democrats’ decision to use a procedure known as reconciliation to consider the bill, allowing the majority to pass the legislation on a party-line vote without the threat of a filibuster.
The Republicans used the same procedure in 2017 to spend the same $1.9 trillion to cut taxes. That bill, called the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, also targeted New Jersey and other high-tax Democratic-run states by capping the federal deduction for state and local taxes.
“The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act cut taxes for everybody but mostly for high-income people and corporations,” said Howard Gleckman, a senior fellow with the Tax Policy Center, a research group. “This one cuts taxes mostly for low and moderate-income people.”
The unanimous GOP opposition on Capitol Hill contrasted with the bill’s strong support among Americans. In a CNN poll released Wednesday as the House prepared to vote, 61% backed the stimulus bill while 37% opposed it. The $1,400 stimulus checks were supported, 76%-23%.
Among Republicans, 55% supported the checks and 45% opposed them, and among those who leaned Republican, 59% were in favor and 40% were against the direct payments. The poll of 1,009 adults was conducted March 3-8 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.6 percentage points.
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Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him at @JDSalant.
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