New Delhi: The US Senate on Saturday voted to approve a $1.9 trillion relief package by 50 votes to 49 in a party line vote. President Joe Biden vows will revive the country's pandemic-stricken economy.
According to an AFP report, Biden said in his address from the White House, "I promised the American people help was on the way," after the plan was approved along strict party lines. Adding to which he said, "Today, I can say we've taken one more giant step forward in delivering on that promise."
"It obviously wasn't easy. It wasn't always pretty. But it was so desperately needed."
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The legislation would send out $1,400 stimulus checks to most Americans and allocates $350 billion to state and local governments and $130 billion to schools. It would also provide $49 billion for expanded Covid testing, tracing and research, and $14 billion for vaccine distribution.
Meanwhile, Republicans have been united in opposition to the bill, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell issued a statement slamming a "colossal missed opportunity for our nation." According to the AFP report, he said "Democrats decided their top priority wasn't pandemic relief, it was their Washington wish-list."
The bill comes at a time when US economic data signalled that the world's largest economy may finally be healing as businesses began recruiting again in February after almost a year of being battered by the pandemic. The AFP report stated the Labor Department report, that the vast majority of the job gains were in the leisure and hospitality sector, which was devastated in the pandemic's early months.
The economy is still short 9.5 million jobs compared with February 2020, before the pandemic began. Biden's advisers believe that it'll take two years to recover to the pre pandemic level.
This is the second largest rescue package in US history, after last year's $2 trillion CARES Act almost fell apart.