After more than 25 hours of debate and votes, Senate Democrats passed a sweeping $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill Saturday aimed at helping lower-income Americans, small businesses, schools, the hard-hit hospitality and tourism industries, as well as state and local governments — with aid also going to boost front-line pandemic work, vaccines, testing and tracing plans.
The bill passed on a party-line vote and will now head back over to the House, which will have to reconcile several key changes before it heads to President Joe Biden’s desk just days before unemployment benefits expire for millions of Americans.
