R&I NV — Analysis by Stephen Collinson, CNN
Updated 6:16 AM ET, Wed March 10, 2021
(CNN)President Joe Biden plans to use the $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief bill expected to pass Congress on Wednesday as a platform for a generational transformation of the economy to benefit the least well-off Americans and alleviate poverty.
The passage of a bill of this scale and ambition two months into any new president’s term would represent a power-affirming win. The political payoff for Biden of his first legacy achievement may be even greater. He had to navigate the measure through thin congressional majorities and a Democratic caucus riven by ideological divides — and amid the worst domestic crisis since World War II. But according to a CNN poll released Tuesday, the relief bill is broadly popular, and Biden’s approval rating tilts positive around 50 days after he took the oath of office.
Biden ran for election pledging to send stimulus payments to millions of Americans and to secure money to fund the return of kids to school, while speeding up the pace of vaccinations. When he gives his first prime-time address to Americans on Thursday, he can make a case that he kept his word as he battles to end a pandemic that has killed more than 525,000 Americans.
“Leadership matters. Vaccinations are up, infections are down, $1,400 survival checks are on the way, and that is only the beginning,” Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the chairman of the House Democratic caucus, said on Tuesday.
With its tax credits for children and low-income workers, an extension of health insurance subsidies and nutrition and rental assistance, the American Rescue Plan is intended to do far more than simply stimulate the economy. Liberal champion Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont is hailing it as a major victory for the progressive movement and the biggest targeted relief for working Americans in many years. While many of the provisions in the bill are short term, CNN’s Kevin Liptak reported Tuesday that the President intends to launch an effort to make them permanent.
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Carl Sagan
Article URL : https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/10/politics/biden-stimulus-covid-relief-bill-republicans/index.html