The Senate’s budget resolution adoption on Friday puts Democrats one step closer to getting President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion fiscal stimulus passed -- with or without Republicans’ help.
With the Senate split evenly among Republicans and Democrats, Vice President Kamala Harris will be able to use her vote to break any ties to push through the relief plan.
House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D., S.C.) told Yahoo Finance that the $1.9 trillion price tag is enough to “rescue this economy,” but “should be bigger than that in the long run.”
“That’s enough to rescue this economy [for now]. We’re going to have to stimulate the economy later on,” said Clyburn. “And I think we’ll hear from the president in [his address to a joint session of Congress], what he proposes to stimulate the economy.” If Democrats succeed in getting the package approved, Americans can expect even more stimulus during Biden’s presidency, he said.
Clyburn’s Republican colleagues will likely fight Democrats’ attempts to fast-track the aid plan.
Ten Republican senators met with Biden virtually this week and presented their smaller $618 billion fiscal stimulus plan. The GOP proposal includes less generous payments to Americans. Under Biden’s plan, eligible recipients would get a $1,400 payment plus $1,400 for all dependents, while qualifying Americans under the Republican plan would receive a $1,000 payment plus $500 for all dependents. Biden said the GOP plan is “way too small.”
Moving the U.S. economy past the current “rescue stage” will require government investment in infrastructure, health care, and broadband programs, which “will come later,” Clyburn said. Biden is expected to address a joint session of Congress and provide details on further government investment in the U.S. economy this month.
In the meantime, Clyburn said Americans can expect to receive those $1,400 stimulus checks “within a week” after Democrats pass the stimulus bill.
Amid criticism that Biden isn’t upholding his promise to take a bipartisanship approach to leadership, Clyburn defended him, saying that Republicans have been negotiating in bad faith and delaying relief by simply “playing politics,” pointing to the fight over school funding as an example.
“[Republicans have] about $20 billion for kids to go back to school. We got $150 billion to put kids back in school because we think we need to clean up these HVAC systems. We can’t send them back to school unless we make the school safe for them to go,” said Clyburn. “The teachers and the students and the administrators deserve that.”
According to a recent Quinnipiac poll, 68% of Americans approve of Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus plan.
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