WASHINGTON (AP) — Acting swiftly in an extraordinary time, the House rushed President Donald Trump a $2.2 trillion rescue package Friday, tossing a life preserver to a U.S. economy and health care system left flailing by the coronavirus pandemic.
The House approved the sweeping measure by a voice vote, as strong majorities of both parties lined up behind the most colossal economic relief bill in the nation’s history. It will ship payments of up to $1,200 to millions of Americans, bolster unemployment benefits, offer loans, grants and tax breaks to businesses large and small and flush billions more to states, local governments and the nation’s all but overwhelmed health care system.
Trump signed the measure later that day.
“The American people deserve a government wide, visionary, evidence-based response to address these threats to their lives and their livelihood. And they need it now,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
“We are going to help Americans through this. We are going to do this together,” said House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.
Passage came after Democratic and Republican leaders banded together and outmaneuvered a maverick GOP lawmaker who tried forcing a roll call vote.
With many lawmakers scattered around the country and reluctant to risk flying back to the Capitol, that could have delayed approval.
But after Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., a libertarian who often bucks the GOP leadership, tried insisting on a roll call vote, the presiding officer — Rep. Anthony Brown, D-Md. — ruled that there was no need for one and the bill passed.
For the most part, Democrats who saw a taxpayer giveaway to big business and Republicans who considered it ladened with waste backed the measure for the greater good of keeping the economy alive.
There were hand sanitizers at the end of each aisle in the chamber, where most lawmakers sat well apart from one another.
Massie’s moved infuriated Trump and many lawmakers, who would have been forced to return to the Capitol to vote on legislation that was certain to pass anyway.
Trump tweeted that Massie is “a third rate Grandstander” and said he should be drummed out of the GOP. “He is a disaster for America, and for the Great State of Kentucky!” Trump wrote.
Massie, who opposed the massive bill, was in the chamber during the debate, chatting occasionally with others and checking his phone. Posting on Twitter, he cited a section of the Constitution that requires a majority of lawmakers — some 216 of them — to be present and voting to conduct business.
The debate was mostly conciliatory, with members of both parties praising the measure as a rescue for a ravaged nation. The lecturns in the chamber’s well were wiped down between many of the speeches.
“While no one will agree with every part of this rescue bill, we face a challenge rarely seen in America’s history. We must act now, or the toll on lives and livelihoods will be far greater,” said Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas.
