WASHINGTON – The $ 1.9 trillion stimulus plan approved by the Senate on Saturday follows the lines of President Biden’s proposed comprehensive pandemic relief package, but the Senators made a number of notable changes that restricted the bill.
While the House passed a version of the bill that kept Mr Biden’s proposals largely intact, the Senate left out an increase in the minimum wage it had taken in and capped how much Americans will receive additional unemployment benefits in the coming months. In addition, eligibility for the next round of stimulus testing has been reduced compared to the House’s bill.
The changes made by the Senate are likely to remain as the version passed by the Chamber is expected to be submitted to the House for final approval on Tuesday. The bill would then go to Mr Biden for signature.
Here are some of the key differences between the two chambers’ bills.
The minimum wage increase was canceled.
The House bill would gradually raise the federal minimum wage, which is currently $ 7.25 an hour, to $ 15 an hour by 2025. The Senate’s bill does not provide for a wage increase.
The Senate MP said last month that the wage increase violates the strict rules that govern what can be included in bills passed through a special process known as budget balancing.
Democrats took advantage of the reconciliation process because it allowed the law to pass the Senate by a simple majority, protecting it from a filibuster – which requires 60 votes to break – thereby removing the need to win Republican support.
On Friday, an amendment to add the minimum wage increase fell far short of the 60 votes required for this and failed in a procedural vote with 42 to 58 votes. Seven Democrats and an Independent meeting with them joined all 50 Republicans in the opposition, signaling that the wage increase was not getting enough support to settle the Senate regardless of Parliament’s decision.
Stimulus checks will be less available to Americans.
Both the House and Senate bills would allow Americans another round of direct payments, with payments of up to $ 1,400 going to hundreds of millions of people. However, the Senate bill puts stricter income limits for those eligible, excluding millions of people from receiving a payment.
Both bills would provide for $ 1,400 for individuals with incomes up to $ 75,000, single parents with incomes up to $ 112,500, and married couples with incomes up to $ 150,000. Gradually lower payments would go to those who earn more, decrease as income levels rise, and expire altogether for those who exceed a certain income ceiling.
While the House set the cap at $ 100,000 for individuals, $ 150,000 for single parents, and $ 200,000 for couples, the Senate lowered those thresholds to reassure moderates who wanted more targeted payment.
Biden’s stimulus plan
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March 6, 2021, 1:58 p.m. ET
Instead, the Senate bill would set the cap at $ 80,000 for individuals, $ 120,000 for single parents, and $ 160,000 for couples, meaning those who earn more would not receive checks.
Unemployment benefits would stay at $ 300 per week instead of increasing to $ 400.
The last stimulus package, passed in December, partially restored a federal unemployment benefit that expired last summer, which offered $ 300 a week and extended through March 14 when the payment was increased, leaving it the same.
The House version would offer a more generous benefit of $ 400 per week through August 29th. The Senate measure would provide $ 300 per week through September 6.
The Senate bill would also exempt US $ 10,200 from federal income tax benefits for households earning less than US $ 150,000 in 2020.
Both the House and Senate have also tried to help workers who have lost their jobs maintain their employer-provided health insurance coverage, but the Senate bill is more generous. The house measure would cover 85 percent of the premiums through a program called COBRA through September, while the Senate measure would cover the full cost of those premiums.
The Senate bill drops a railroad project and adds a provision on student loan debt.
The two calculations differ in a variety of other areas. The Senate added a provision exempting student loan forgiveness from income tax until 2025, a move under pressure from Mr Biden to cancel student loan debt through executive action.
Funding for a railroad project in Northern California’s Silicon Valley that was criticized by Republicans was included in the House bill but was removed from Senate measure after the MP decided against it.
Another traffic-related allocation in the House bill that was criticized by Republicans, $ 1.5 million for the Seaway International Bridge between New York State and Canada, was also removed from the Senate version.
