Putting the People First, the House Democrats Pass the American Rescue Plan

Photo from 6ABC

In a 219 to 212 vote, House Democrats again did the work of governing and putting people first by passing the American Rescue Plan.

This legislation, the latest in a string of bills over the last year to combat the medical and socioeconomic effects of the Coronavirus, will if passed by the Senate:

• Fund COVID 19 vaccine production and distribution.
• Provide $1400 in cash payments to qualifying individuals.
• Extend and expand pandemic-related unemployment insurance.
• Infuse monies to schools and child care facilities to safely reopen.
• Give states and local governments appropriations to cover budget shortfalls and forestall cuts in vital services like law enforcement, firefighters, and teachers.
• Fund small business assistance.
• Combat food insecurity by giving needed families access to free groceries.
• Provide housing and rental assistance for qualifying families.
• Increase Obamacare health care subsidies for qualifying families.
• Reduce child poverty by expanding the Child Tax and Earned Income Tax Credits.
• Give tax credits to businesses that offer paid family leave.

A $15.00 an hour increase to the minimum wage was also included in the $1.9 trillion plan but the Senate Parliamentarian ruled on Thursday (February 25, 2021) that provision would need to come out of the legislation per Senate budget reconciliation rules.

How did the members of the former Party of Lincoln vote on the American Rescue Plan?

Like they did whenever a Democrat is in the White House who puts forth a plan to help the American People.

They, despite the overwhelming support of the American People including economists,  Republican Mayors, and Governors, all voted against it.

They, unlike their Senate counterparts, did not put forth their own alternative COVID 19 relief plan, proving their incapability to govern.

This time, Democrats should not let Republicans get off the hook. They should immediately go on the political offensive and  target all Republicans that voted against this bill with ads that say prospective Republican incumbents voted:

• Against giving you $1400.
• Against giving you a living wage.
• Against giving you a COVID 19 Vaccine.
• To let you go hungry.
• Against you keeping your house.

The American Rescue Plan now goes to the Senate where it will, according to reporting from the Washington Post, likely be amended by Moderate Democrats to become less expensive and more targeted with regards to where the aid will go.

Senators, according to reporting by CBS News, may also try a creative approach to increasing the minimum wage that meets the Senate Parliamentarian guidelines by inserting a tax penalty to large corporations like Walmart or Amazon that do not pay all their workers at least $15.00 an hour and tax credits to small businesses that do.

When the Senate passes its version of the American Rescue Plan, it will go back to the House of Representatives for a final vote.

Hopefully, the final legislation will be on President Biden's desk before unemployment insurance runs out for millions of Americans in Mid March.

The American Rescue Plan is a first step toward steering the country in the right direction again after four years of plutocratic Trumpists and Republicans catering to the one percent.

Infrastructure spending, voting rights, immigration reform, and other social justice legislation should quickly follow so Democrats can tell the voters America, in spite of Republican obstructionism, is moving forward again.