House Greenlights Biden COVID Bill

The U.S. House of Representatives gave the final OK on Wednesday (March 10) to the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill championed by President Joe Biden, who plans to sign the bill on Friday, according to CNBC.

The bill, which will be among the biggest in U.S. history, will be one of Biden’s first big legislative accomplishments. The Friday deadline to sign comes as it sometimes takes days for bills of this size to move around Washington.

The proposal will extend a number of provisions, including but not limited to new $1,400 checks for most Americans and their dependents, extensions of the $300 per week jobless aid with the first $10,200 for an individual’s jobless benefits being tax-free, child tax credits expanded for a year, more vaccine aid, more rental and utility assistance, and more relief for state and local governments.

The bill passed the House by a margin of 220-211. No Republicans voted for the bill, with the party line being that the bill is overly costly as the pandemic is inching toward an end and the job market has recovered enough to not need much more stimulus spending.

But Biden said the bill was necessary to help the people still struggling amid a volatile economy.

“This legislation is about giving the backbone of this nation — the essential workers, the working people who built this country, the people who keep this country going — a fighting chance,” he said, according to CNBC.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi voiced her support for the bill by saying it was “consequential and transformative legislation,” CNBC writes.

The new bill could see a spike in benefit for retailers and industry trade groups, who could see as much as a 23.5 percent gain from the time the last $600 checks came through in early January, with department stores leading the pack. Other types of retailers — like furniture and home furnishings, electronics, appliances, sporting goods, hobby and music — also reported notable upticks in revenues.