US Congress will have its first vote on President Joe Biden’s relief plan valued at $1.9 trillion.
The House Democratic majority leader, Steny Hoyer, said the US President Joe Biden’s plan has a great chance of getting the majority’s approval as the Democrats dominate the House.
However, the Senate saw negotiations on Wednesday over some sticking points, including an increase in the hourly minimum wage to $15.
As a result, the final text that could be approved by Congress is not yet clear, in light of the continuing deep division between Republicans and Democrats.
Several leading American groups, including Goldman Sachs, Apple and General Motors, noted that time is running short in the face of the economic devastation caused by the pandemic, calling on Congress to speed up the adoption of the new support plan.
In the same context, Biden announced Wednesday he would put the relief plan to a vote in a plenary session on Friday.
Possible difficulties to Biden’s Plan
The Democratic Party may face some difficulty in the Senate as both Democrats and Republicans have 50 seats. But, the US President’s party depends on the vote of the Vice President, Kamala Harris, in the event of a tie.
The Democrats had approved a memorandum in early February, allowing them to approve the plan by a simple majority to reducing the possibility of Republicans blocking the adoption of the text, as it was required to obtain 60 votes to approve a text of this importance.
The US President Joe Biden said when presenting his plan, on January 14, that he looked forward to passing it by February, which is nearing its end.
Partnership for New York City, a non-profit organization sent a message to congressional officials from the Democratic and Republican parties, on Wednesday.
The message includes demands of more than 150 officials in American companies, to quickly adopt immediate and broad legislation to address the health and economic crises caused by the pandemic.
