On Saturday, March 6th, the Senate voted to approve the American Rescue Plan along a narrow margin of 50-49. The bill, which was approved by the House on February 27th, will cost $1.9 trillion. It follows five substantial spending bills passed in the past year. In order to ensure that the bill was passed before a lapse in unemployment benefits set to begin on March 14th, Democrats took advantage of a process called budget reconciliation to prevent filibusters and push the bill through with only a simple majority vote. Despite already passing in both the House and Senate and despite the need to act quickly to prevent an estimated 11.4 million workers from losing their benefits, the bill will go through one final vote in the House before President Joe Biden can sign it into law.

With a cost equivalent to nearly one-tenth the size of the entire U.S. economy, the American Rescue Plan allocates funds to various causes, including into the hands of the American people. Similarly to how many Americans received $2000 and $600 stimulus checks from earlier pandemic legislation, the American Rescue Plan provides one-time direct payments of $1,400 to Americans who earn up to $75,000 individually or $150,000 as a married couple. As the median income for Americans was $68,703 in 2019, the majority of Americans will receive these checks. The pandemic has caused record unemployment and a loss of income for many. In addition to stimulus checks, the American Rescue Plan addresses this by extending unemployment benefits, reserving $12 billion for nutrition assistance, and $45 billion in rental, utility, and mortgage assistance. Federal subsidies will also be provided to allow Americans to keep the health insurance they had from work if they lose their jobs. A preliminary analysis by the Center of Poverty and Social Policy at Columbia University estimated that the plan will cut poverty by nearly a third this year.

Companies hit hard by the pandemic and government services will also receive funding from the American Rescue Plan. The bill includes $350 billion to be given to state, local, and tribal governments. Restaurants and bars hurt by the pandemic will receive $25 billion and transit agencies will receive $30 billion. Small businesses and live venues will also receive aid. Primary and secondary schools will receive $130 billion to be used to prevent the spread of COVID-19 through reduced class sizes, modified classrooms, hiring more nurses and counselors, etc. The bill requires that schools use at least 20% of the money to address learning loss, potentially through extended days or summer school. The plan also includes $14 billion for the distribution of a vaccine and $46 billion for testing and tracing.

In addition to sending out federal aid in response to the pandemic, the American Rescue Plan also funds other objectives of the Democratic Party. Subsidies for children will increase and eligibility under the Affordable Care Act will broaden. The bill also expands rental assistance, unemployment benefits, and food stamps. Some Republicans criticized the bill on this basis, such as House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who said, “This isn't a relief bill. It takes care of Democrats' political allies while it fails to deliver for American families." Democrats have argued against this idea, as House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer called the vote on the bill’s passage, “a crucial step in our fight to defeat COVID-19.”

The bill originally passed in the House of Representatives 219-212. Republicans unanimously voted against the bill, as did two Democrats (Kurt Schrader of Oregon and Jared Golden of Maine). Democrats have a narrower hold on the Senate and, as a result, the bill underwent some changes to ensure a uniform vote among their ranks. The pool of Americans eligible for stimulus checks decreased, as income caps changed from $100,000 to $80,000 for individuals. Seven million Americans lost the possibility of receiving stimulus money as a result. Weekly employment benefits were reduced from $400 to $300 after Joe Manchin, a conservative Democrat from West Virginia, objected to the House’s proposal. A portion of the bill that would raise the federal minimum wage to $15 by 2025 was also scrapped after it was decided by Senate parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough that its inclusion was a violation of the budgetary rules surrounding a reconciliation package. The wage increase also would have guaranteed that tipped workers, youth workers, and workers with disabilities would be paid the full federal minimum wage. Republicans also proposed changes to the plan, although most were rejected. Some of the rejected amendments included scaling back the bill to a cost of $650 billion, conditioning school funds on the number of in-person classes, blocking aid to “sanctuary cities”, and reallocating state and local government funds.

The discussion and vote on the American Rescue Plan took over 24 hours to complete. Making amendments to the bill was a lengthy process, as changes had to be presented, debated, voted on, and revised. Manchin’s objections to $400 unemployment benefits alone halted the Senate for more than nine hours. Senator Ron Johnson, a Republican from Wisconsin, added to this time by making the chamber’s clerks read the entire 628-page bill aloud. This process took 10 hours and 44 minutes. Eventually, the package was approved in the Senate, 50-49. The votes were along party lines, with one Republican absent.

Because the bill differs from the version that originally arrived in the Senate, it will return to the House for one final vote before heading to the president’s desk. This vote is expected to take place on March 16th. Because many of the changes to the bill made it more appealing to moderate Democrats, it’s possible that progressives in the House will work against the current version of the plan. However, the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, who represents many progressive Democrats in the House, has called changes made by the Senate, “bad policy and bad politics” but “relatively minor concessions.”