Vox Sentences - Biden’s first big legislative win

Democrats’ Covid-19 relief bill will become law this week; Myanmar’s military is seizing territory and cracking down on journalists.

Tonight's Sentences was written by Gabby Birenbaum.

• The House of Representatives is set to pass President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief bill early on Wednesday. The President is expected to sign it Thursday in a triumphant moment for Democrats early into Biden’s term. [The New York Times / Thomas Kaplan]
• The House had previously passed the bill, but now has to vote on the Senate version, which changed the targeting of stimulus checks and cut a provision implementing a $15 minimum wage. [CNN / Clare Foran, Kristin Wilson, and Annie Grayer]
• Democratic leadership and the Congressional Progressive Caucus alike have championed the bill as a historic progressive measure, with enormous implications for lowering poverty rates and a significant welfare expansion. [The Washington Post / Erica Werner]
• Zero Republican lawmakers are expected to support the bill, which enjoys significant popularity in polling. Between individual $1,400 stimulus checks, the child tax credit, and targeted aid, Democrats are betting Republicans will pay for their opposition to the bill’s benefits. [Politico / Sarah Ferris]
• Individuals earning under $75,000, based on 2020 income tax returns, and married couples making under $150,000, as well as their adult dependents, are eligible to receive $1,400. The benefits then phase out, stopping at $80,000 for individuals and $160,000 for couples. [Vox / Cameron Peters]
• The bill also includes billions of dollars in funding for vaccines, state and local aid, safe school reopening, and unemployment. [USA Today / Nicholas Wu]
• The bill represents a potential turning point in American attitudes, away from the Reagan-era portrayal of the federal government as incompetent and unhelpful and toward a new belief that the government should directly help people. [The Associated Press / Josh Boak and Lisa Mascaro]
• Meanwhile, instead of discussing the bill’s enormous price tag, as they typically would, Republicans are using their platforms to deride “cancel culture” and discuss Dr. Seuss and Mr. Potato Head. That strategy gives Biden and Democrats a level of messaging room that Presidents Clinton and Obama did not have. [CNN / Ronald Brownstein]
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