U.S. Senate approves US$1.9 trillion economic rescue plan

  Xinhua News Agency, Washington, March 6 (Reporter Xu Yuangaopan) The U.S. Senate voted at noon on the 6th to approve the $1.9 trillion economic rescue plan.

The plan will be returned to the House of Representatives for reconsideration and voting.

  On the same day, the Senate passed the plan with 50 votes in favor and 49 votes against. No Republican senator voted in favor.

A Republican senator did not attend the vote due to the death of his family.

  The economic relief plan passed on the same day revised the part about unemployment benefits in the version passed by the House of Representatives, reduced the weekly unemployment benefit fringe benefit from $400 to $300, extended the application period of the benefit to September 6, and deleted the House of Representatives. The Democrats advocate raising the statutory federal minimum wage from $7.25 per hour to $15 per hour.

Therefore, the plan will be returned to the House of Representatives for reconsideration and voting.

  According to a statement issued by the House of Representatives Majority Leader and Democrat Steny Hoyer on the 6th, the House of Representatives will vote in the whole house on the 9th.

After the economic rescue plan is passed, it will be submitted to U.S. President Biden for signing into law.

  As the emergency unemployment relief plan previously launched in response to the new crown epidemic will expire on March 14, the Democrats in the US Congress hope to introduce a new round of relief plans as soon as possible.

The $1.9 trillion economic rescue plan proposed by Biden was passed in the House of Representatives on February 27.

  The US Senate began to review the plan on the 4th.

Due to differences within the Democratic Party on the details of unemployment benefits and obstruction by Republican senators, the review process on the 5th lasted from the morning of the same day to noon on the 6th, which lasted more than 25 hours.