Hi there,

If you think Democracy Now!’s reporting is a critical line of defense against war, climate catastrophe and authoritarianism, please make your donation of $10 or more right now. Today, a generous donor will DOUBLE your donation, which means it’ll go 2x as far to support our independent journalism. Democracy Now! is funded by you, and that’s why we’re counting on your donation to keep us going strong. Please give today. Every dollar makes a difference—in fact, gets doubled! Thank you so much.
-Amy Goodman

Non-commercial news needs your support.

We rely on contributions from you, our viewers and listeners to do our work. If you visit us daily or weekly or even just once a month, now is a great time to make your monthly contribution.

Please do your part today.

Donate

Senate Passes $1.9 Trillion Stimulus Package, Votes Down $15/Hour Min. Wage Amendment

HeadlineMar 08, 2021

The Senate passed President Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus stimulus package Saturday 50 to 49, with no Republicans voting in favor of the legislation. The bill includes $1,400 direct payments for individuals making under $75,000, or couples making twice that, but will be cut off for anyone making more than $80,000, or $160,000 for couples filing taxes jointly — a significantly lower cap than the House’s version. The Senate also extended federal unemployment benefits at $300 a week, down from the $400 approved by the House. The legislation expands the child tax credit and provides funding for vaccine distribution, testing, as well as local governments and schools. The bill passed by the Senate does not include a $15-an-hour minimum wage increase. Eight members of the Democratic Caucus joined all Republicans in voting down Senator Bernie Sanders’s amendment to include the minimum wage hike to the bill: West Virginia’s Joe Manchin, Delaware’s Chris Coons and Tom Carper, New Hampshire’s Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan, Montana’s Jon Tester, Maine’s Angus King and Arizona’s Kyrsten Sinema. The bill will go back before the House Tuesday before heading to Biden’s desk.

The original content of this program is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Please attribute legal copies of this work to democracynow.org. Some of the work(s) that this program incorporates, however, may be separately licensed. For further information or additional permissions, contact us.

Non-commercial news needs your support

We rely on contributions from our viewers and listeners to do our work.
Please do your part today.
Make a donation
Top