US House passes US$1.9t COVID relief plan, Senate next
Betty Van Putten (right) moves in to kiss her husband, Stan Van Putten, through a hug tent at the Crossroads Senior Living community on February 26, 2021, in Lakewood, Colorado.
The US House passed an enormous US$1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package early on Saturday, hailed by Democrats as a critical step in funneling new funding toward vaccinations, overburdened local governments, and millions of families devastated by the pandemic.
Four days after the COVID-19 death toll surpassed 500,000 in the United States, the sprawling measure backed by President Joe Biden and described by Democrats as a moral imperative now heads to the Senate for consideration next week.
The bill, which cleared the House on a party-line vote of 219 to 212, includes a provision to raise the minimum wage to US$15 an hour, but due to a Senate ruling the language will be stripped out of the final version.
