On Friday, the House passed a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill in a vote of 219 to 212. The bill includes a $15 minimum wage increase, an extension of unemployment insurance, survival checks, and $20 billion for a national vaccination program.
Two House Democrats, Representatives Jared Golden (ME) and Kurt Schrader (OR) voted no on the bill, according to C·SPAN.
The bill heads to the Senate for voting, but is unlikely to pass because “the parliamentarian has ruled the wage increase violates budget rules and cannot be included,” C·SPAN reported.
“The passage of this package in the House proves that when we join forces to demand a government that cares for all of its people, we can prevail—even in the face of Congressional Republican’s intransigence,”Kirin Kennedy, deputy director of legislative and administrative advocacy of the Sierra Club, said. “While President Biden and the Congressional Democrats immediately got to work to provide relief for the people, GOP House leaders have continued their attempts to stall and block pandemic relief, putting political theater above getting the job done.
The Sierra Club and many other organization, who strongly support the bill, urge the Senate to pass the relief bill for the millions of struggling Americans amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“The Sierra Club implores the Senate to pass this package as quickly as possible, as millions of Americans are still grieving loved ones and struggling to make ends meet,” Kennedy said. “We need relief and we need it now.”
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