Republicans line up to oppose Joe Biden's $1.9tn COVID stimulus plan with Marco Rubio saying it will not pass and demanding $1,400 checks as a standalone bill

 Republicans are already lining up to oppose President-elect Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID-19 rescue plan that he debuted in Wilmington, Delaware Thursday night. 

Punchbowl News reported Friday morning that two powerful GOP lawmakers: Sen. Marco Rubio and Rep. Kevin Brady of Texas, the top Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee, have already become naysayers.

'President-elect Biden served in [the] Senate for over 35 years. So he knows the plan he outlined tonight can't pass "quickly" & will delay the 2k for hard hit Americans,' Rubio said Thursday night.   

Brady started his statement with, 'Here we go again.'

'True to form and his signature failed "stimulus," President-elect Biden launches yet another economic blind buffalo that does nothing to save Main Street businesses, get people back to work, or strengthen the economy,' Brady said. 

'Special interests and liberals are cheering,' he added. 'The jobless and Main Street are left shaking their heads.' 

When Biden and his team rolled out the plan for several hours Thursday, they argued the unemployed and small business owners are some of the main groups the plan would assist.  

Rep. Kevin Brady
Sen. Marco Rubio

Rep. Kevin Brady (left) and Sen. Marco Rubio (right) both had negative feedback for President-elect Joe Biden on his proposed $1.9 trillion COVID-19 rescue plan 

Rubio tweeted his criticism Thursday night after Biden rolled out the plan from Wilmington, Delaware

Rubio tweeted his criticism Thursday night after Biden rolled out the plan from Wilmington, Delaware 

President-elect Joe Biden made a pitch to Congress to spend $1.9 trillion on COVID-19 speech in Wilmington, Delaware Thursday night

President-elect Joe Biden made a pitch to Congress to spend $1.9 trillion on COVID-19 speech in Wilmington, Delaware Thursday night

Biden gave a primetime speech at Wilmington's Queen theater to call on Congress to act.  

'I look forward to working with members of Congress in both parties to move quickly to get the American rescue plan to the American people,' he said. 

Biden unveiled the broad strokes of a rescue plan that includes items that will likely have some bipartisan support - like an additional $1,400 for Americans - boosting the total to the $2,000 per adult President Donald Trump demanded in December. 

'$600 is simply not enough if you still have to choose between paying rent and putting food on the table,' Biden observed.  

But, like Republicans indicated, it also outlines loftier goals, like implementing a national $15 per hour minimum wage, a campaign promise the Democrat made. 

'People tell me that's going to be hard to pass. Florida just passed it,' Biden noted, name-dropping Trump's adopted home state, which voted for Trump and has two Republican senators and a GOP governor. 'The rest of the country is ready to move as well,' he said.  

Overall, $400 billion of the $1.9 trillion is specifically geared toward combating the virus, including $160 billion to go toward a national vaccination program.  

'The vaccine rollout in the United States has been a dismal failure thus far,' the president-elect noted. 

President-elect Joe Biden made his first demand for Congress to act from the Queen theater in Wilmington Thursday night with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris (right) by his side

President-elect Joe Biden made his first demand for Congress to act from the Queen theater in Wilmington Thursday night with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris (right) by his side 

Capitol Hill, which is currently fenced in after last Wednesday's MAGA riot, will get pressured by Biden's team to pass a large COVID-19 rescue package quickly. Among Biden's demands, upping relief checks to $2,000 and a $15 minimum wage

Capitol Hill, which is currently fenced in after last Wednesday's MAGA riot, will get pressured by Biden's team to pass a large COVID-19 rescue package quickly. Among Biden's demands, upping relief checks to $2,000 and a $15 minimum wage 

Vice President-elect Kamala Harris didn't speak Thursday night, but sat onstage behind Biden as a signal of support

Vice President-elect Kamala Harris didn't speak Thursday night, but sat onstage behind Biden as a signal of support 

Biden promises financial assistance to Americans who need it most
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'We need about $400 billion in funding from Congress - it's a great deal - but I'm convinced we are ready get this done,' Biden said, specifically talking about the amount he wants to spend on COVID-19, which is just one part of the nearly $2 trillion plan.  

Biden will announce what his plan is for distributing the COVID-19 vaccines quickly during a Friday afternoon speech, also from Wilmington. 

Incoming senior administration officials on an on-background call Thursday with reporters also scoffed at the job the Trump administration has been doing on the vaccine front. 

'We have had sort of uneven cooperation, if you will, from the Trump administration,' one official said. 'And I think it's clear that what we're inheriting from the Trump administration is much worse than we could have imagined, you know, there's no existing infrastructue for vaccinations as we've talked about.' 

When Biden publicly complained about the roll-out last month, Trump tweeted that it was 'up to the states' to distribute vaccines. 

'Biden failed with Swine Flu!' the president also scream-tweeted at the time. 

Still, Biden's team expressed confidence they could dole out 100 million shots in Biden's first 100 days, even if there wasn't a third or fourth vaccine option. 

'This will be one of the most challenging operational efforts we have ever undertaken as a nation,' Biden said Thursday night.  

Right now, just the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines have been approved. 

Incoming senior administration officials also offered that while, for instance, the Trump administration never set up a national testing infrastructure, dollars doled out by Congress could go directly to work. 

'We can buy rapid antigen tests right away that will not only help us start to do testing in places like schools, to support our school reopening,' an official said.  

Biden's team also believed they would be able to open K-8 schools within his first 100 days in office. 

'We can do it, if we give school districts, communities, and states the clear guidance they need as well as the resources they will need that they can not afford right now because of the economic crisis we are in,' Biden said. 'That means more testing and transportation, additional cleaning and sanitizing services, protective equipment, and ventilation systems in the schools.' 

$130 billion is specifically allocated to go toward schools.  

Biden's team believes they'll be able to vaccinate 100 million Americans within his first 100 days. Pictured: Spc. Katherine Deskins of the Nevada Army National Guard administers a Moderna COVID-19 vaccination to Federal Emergency Management Agency Urban Search and Rescue Personnel Director Dennis West on January 14 in Las Vegas

Biden's team believes they'll be able to vaccinate 100 million Americans within his first 100 days. Pictured: Spc. Katherine Deskins of the Nevada Army National Guard administers a Moderna COVID-19 vaccination to Federal Emergency Management Agency Urban Search and Rescue Personnel Director Dennis West on January 14 in Las Vegas

Biden plans to deliver $5 billion in emergency assistance to help secure housing for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness. Pictured: Skid Row in LA

Biden plans to deliver $5 billion in emergency assistance to help secure housing for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness. Pictured: Skid Row in LA

Biden unveiled the broad strokes of a rescue plan that includes items that will likely have some bipartisan support - like an additional $1,400 for Americans - boosting the total to the $2,000 per adult President Donald Trump demanded in December. '$600 is simply not enough if you still have to choose between paying rent and putting food on the table,' Biden observed. PICTURED: People wait in line at a food bank in LA

Biden unveiled the broad strokes of a rescue plan that includes items that will likely have some bipartisan support - like an additional $1,400 for Americans - boosting the total to the $2,000 per adult President Donald Trump demanded in December. '$600 is simply not enough if you still have to choose between paying rent and putting food on the table,' Biden observed. PICTURED: People wait in line at a food bank in LA 

The plan also calls for the unemployed to get a boost. 

Biden wants to see the approved $300-a-week federal unemployment benefit increased to $400. 

'This gets money quickly into the pockets of millions of Americans who will spend it immediately on food, rent, and other basic needs. That helps our whole economy grow,' he argued.  

He also wants Congress to extend unemployment benefits to self-employed workers like Uber drivers.  

Biden's plan to reduce student loans by $10,000 per borrower is not in this immediate rescue package, though incoming Biden officials said he still supports it. 

Instead he'll extend student loan forbearance.

A spokesman for the transition did not immediately comment on how many months student loan payments will be waved off. 

Other extensions proposed go through September. 

That includes Biden's call to extend the eviction and foreclosure moratoriums. 

He said Thursday night he would put some of that in place next week, when he takes office, as some things he can do with just a stroke of the pen.  

The new administration would also like to see an additional $30 billion in relief go to renters and small landlords for energy and water assistance.  

Biden's team said he also wants to see the 15 per cent increase in SNAP benefits go at least through the summer, noting that that's when 'childhood hunger spokes due to a lack of school meals.'  

'As I speak, and as Vice President-elect Harris has spoken about this many times, 1 in 7 households in America - more than 1 in 5 Black and Latino households in America – report that they do not have enough food to eat,' Biden said, gesturing toward Harris, who was seated behind him on the Queen's stage.

'This includes 30 million adults and as many as 12 million children,' he continued. 

'It’s wrong. It’s tragic. It’s unacceptable,' the president-elect stated.  

While Democrats will soon have a majority in the Senate, the legislative filibuster still exists, meaning 60 votes would be needed to invoke cloture on the ambitious package. 

Democrats also have a narrower majority in the House, especially because Biden plucked out several members to join the White House and cabinet. 


Boosting the minimum wage and adding 14 weeks of paid sick and family leave, like the proposal outlines, may be too difficult to get passed with Democrats' razor-thin majority.  

Biden also wants money for state and local governments, which Republicans have objected to in the past. 

'We have done a lot of consultation with members of Congress,' an incoming official told a reporter who asked if the entire Senate Democratic caucus was on board. 'We have spent a lot of time speaking to and listening to governors and mayors and we think there is a broad understanding of the urgency of the moment, the immediacy of the crisis and the need to act.'

The official said they were 'hopeful' that the package would get 'a lot of support.'   

Directly after the plan was released, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer sent out a joint statement praising it. 

'The emergency relief framework announced by the incoming Biden-Harris Administration tonight is the right approach,' they said. 'It shows that Democrats will finally have a partner at the White House that understands the need to take swift action to address the needs of struggling communities.' 

The House's Appropriations Committee Chair Rosa DeLauro, a Connecticut Democrat, applauded the effort in a Thursday night statement. 

'The Biden Administration's American Rescue Plan is one of the boldest economic relief packages the country has ever seen. It measures up to the current economic and health crisis,' she said. 'It meets the moment by crushing the virus, delivering financial relief to working families, and supporting our communities.' 

As a way to possibly tilt some of Trump's supporters his way, Biden also pitched that this bill could bring American manufacturing back.  

'Imagine the future Made in America in all of America and all by Americans,' he said. 'We will use taxpayer dollars to rebuild America. We will buy American products and support millions of American manufacturing jobs and enhance our competitive strength in an increasingly competitive world.'

Trump's messaging on trade and manufacturing tilted states like Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan to him inn the 2016 states, though Biden won them back for the Democrats four years later.  

The incoming president also seemed to make a jab at the outgoing one, announcing, 'It's time to stop talking about infrastructure and finally start building it.' 

Early on, Trump had talked about doing a big infrastructure package, though every time his administration tried to hold an 'infrastructure week' something went awry.  

Biden also briefly channeled his former Democratic rival, Sen. Bernie Sanders, going after the top per cent. 

'Just as we are in the midst of a dark winter of this pandemic as cases, hospitalizations, and deaths spike at record levels, there is real pain overwhelming the real economy,' he said at the start. 

'The one where people rely on their paycheck - not their investments - to pay their bills, their meals, and their children’s needs,' he said. 'You won’t see this pain if your score card is how things are going on Wall Street,' Biden observed. 

But Biden's bigger theme was bringing people together.

He also avoided any mention of news-of-the-day topics including the Capitol Hill riot or Trump's second impeachment.   

'While we didn't get into all of this overnight, we won't get out of it overnight - and we can't do it as a divided nation,' he said. 'The only way we come through this is together as fellow Americans and as the United States of America.'  

Down the line, the administration will pitch a 'recovery' plan to Congress as well, with a big focus on jobs, especially green ones.

Biden said Thursday night that plan would be rolled out in his first joint address to Congress next month. 

During a president's first year in office, it's custom for them to speak to a joint session, but it's not called the 'State of the Union' address.  

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