Congress has passed the $1.9 trillion (£1.37 trillion) coronavirus relief bill. Joe Biden will sign it into law on Friday afternoon. The package will provide a direct payment of $1,400 (£1,009) to most Americans.
GOP representative Marjorie Taylor Greene and Senator Lindsey Graham have decried the bill as racist towards white people. As high a figure as 75 per cent of Americans approve of the bill according to polls, including 59 per cent of Republicans.
“It’s a remarkable, historic, transformative piece of legislation which goes a very long way to crushing the virus and solving our economic crisis,” House SpeakerNancy Pelosi said on Tuesday.
Speaking after the passage of the bill, Mr Biden, announcing a further order of 100 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, said if the US had surplus vaccines they would be shared with other countries that need the extra doses.
Meanwhile, it was announced that the US and China will meet in Anchorage, Alaska on 18 March, the first such meeting between the Biden administration and the People’s Republic. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will attend with NSA Jake Sullivan.
