The United States Senate has narrowly passed an amended version of President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 stimulus bill, sending the legislation back to the US House of Representatives for final approval.
In an around-the-clock session that began on Friday, US legislators worked through a series of amendments on Saturday morning before passing the legislation in a 50-49 vote.
Republican and Democratic senators had argued over how long to extend enhanced unemployment benefits for and how much to offer during the pandemic, which has left millions of Americans reeling and battered the country’s economy.
The bill will return to the House of Representatives for final congressional approval next week, after which legislators can send it to Biden for his signature.
“When we took office 45 days ago, I promised the American people that help was on the way. Today, I can say we’ve taken one more giant step forward in delivering on that promise,” Biden said during a news conference on Saturday afternoon.
“It obviously wasn’t easy. It wasn’t always pretty, but it was so desperately needed – urgently needed,” Biden told reporters.
The bill has been one of Biden’s top priorities in the early weeks of his presidency, as he had promised to enact a programme to tackle the surging pandemic and provide financial support for hard-hit citizens.
The US has recorded more than 28.9 million cases of COVID-19 and more than 523,400 coronavirus-related deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data – the highest respective tallies in the world. This past week, Biden urged Democrats to pass the legislation quickly, even without support from Republicans.
“We tell the American people, help is on the way,” said Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
“Our job right now is to help our country get from this stormy present to that hopeful future.”