President-elect Joe Biden unveiled a stimulus plan Thursday intended to speed up vaccines and pump out financial help to those struggling with the pandemic’s prolonged economic fallout.
The Ways and Means Committee approved its $940 billion chunk of Biden’s proposal on a 25-18 party-line vote, highlighting a frenzied week that’s seeing a dozen House panels fashion contributions to the sprawling measure.
The infrastructure portion of the package would include roughly $1 trillion for roads, bridges, rail lines, electrical vehicle charging stations and the cellular network, among other items.
The ambitious plan, to be unveiled Wednesday, is expected to devote hundreds of billions of dollars to infrastructure, home care for the elderly and the disabled, efforts to revive manufacturing, and bolstering the nation’s electric grid, broadband access and water systems.
Current and former state legislators and a former Indiana Supreme Court justice are raising concerns that a measure to extend rather than adjourn the 2021 legislative session blurs the separation of powers and could have “dangerous” implications for the future.
The measure lays the groundwork for separate legislation later this year that over a decade would pour mountains of federal resources into Democrats’ top priorities, with much of it paid for with tax increases on the rich and corporations.
Lawmakers in the bipartisan coalition showed they were willing to set aside political pressures, eager to send billions to their states for rebuilding roads, broadband internet, water pipes and the public works systems that underpin much of American life.
The real test will be when Democrats write and vote on subsequent legislation actually enacting the party’s priorities into specific spending and tax policies.
With days to go, Democrats said they will try again before Thursday’s deadline to pass a bill funding government operations past the Sept. 30 fiscal year end.
Sens. Joe Manchin D-W.Va., and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., are linchpins for the final package—two centrist lawmakers who have balked at the price tag and are now under pressure to show Biden what amount they could live with.
When Ford revealed plans to spend more than $11 billion on the fledgling electric vehicle sector, the automaker chose two states where Republican leaders have criticized the push for green energy and defended fossil fuels.
Freshman Rep. John Jacob, himself a Republican, says Republican leaders “butchered” his legislative district and redrew it in a way that is designed to deny him re-election.
The founder of Angie’s List and TMap, in recognition of his years of service as a community leader and entrepreneurial force, is the 28th recipient of the Michael A. Carroll Award.
President Biden’s remarks at the White House came after he traveled to Capitol Hill to make the case to House Democrats for the still robust domestic package—$1.75 trillion of social services and climate change programs the White House believes can pass the 50-50 Senate.
Overall, the survey offers a set of harsh judgments about the president’s performance and the state of the economy. Together, they send a stark warning to Democrats about their prospects in the 2022 midterm contests.
In their most public, forceful protest to date, Republicans led by Sen. Mike Braun of Indiana muscled to passage a proposal that aims to repeal rules ordering large private businesses to require vaccination or implement comprehensive coronavirus testing for their workers.
In a speech Tuesday, Biden will outline plans to expand coronavirus testing sites across the country, distribute a half-billion free at-home tests and deploy more federal health resources to aid strained hospitals, including emergency teams bound for Indiana.
