In the News

SPRINGFIELD — House Ways and Means Chairman Richard E. Neal is confident not only that the $1.9 trillion American Rescue plan will pass the House Tuesday for the second time, but that it will pick up a few Republican votes along the way.

“We are now on the eve of passing historic legislation as it relates to the pandemic and simultaneously to economic recovery,” the Springfield Democrat told reporters Monday afternoon before leaving for Washington, D.C.

Neal’s Ways and Means Committee was responsible for $941 billion, or about half, the total package. Neal said he found it satisfying that so much of the Ways and Means portion of the bill survived intact through the Senate negotiations and now seemed destined for President Joe Biden’s approval into law.

Republicans have not supported the American Rescue Plan. But Neal pointed out that red state constituents, including the unemployed, stand to benefit and polls show widespread support among the public, including 40% of Republicans.

“This is going to be their only opportunity as the train leaves the station to confirm what their constituents wanted. This might not, at the moment, be bipartisan in Washington, but it’s been pretty bipartisan across the country,” Neal said.

Asked about the GOP strategy, Neal speculated that they thought Biden would be more willing to negotiate rather than use the reconciliation process to get the Rescue Plan through both houses quickly. They came to him with a $600 billion offer.

“I think the Republicans absolutely underestimated his determination,” Neal said. “The reconciliation process worked pretty well here, based on what the House did I’m hoping that it will be used sparingly.”

The Rescue plan vote happened with discussion about the Senate filibuster, a tactic that allows the Republican minority to block votes. The House and Senate are also getting ready to take up a major infrastructure plan designed to further lift the economy and the job market out of the doldrums.

Passage of the Rescue Plan will start the process of sending out $1,400 direct payments to Americans and also:

• Enhance the Earned Income Tax Credit for workers without children by nearly tripling the maximum credit and extending eligibility. It would be the largest expansion to the credit since 2009.
• Expand the Child Tax Credit to $3,000 per child ($3,600 for children under 6), and make it fully refundable and advanceable, meaning it could be a monthly payment.
• Increase the tax credit for child care.
• Reduce health care premiums for low- and middle-income families by increasing the Affordable Care Act’s premium tax credits for 2021 and 2022.
• Stabilize the pensions for more than 1 million Americans, often frontline workers, who participate in multiemployer plans that are rapidly approaching insolvency.
• Send $350 billion in aid to state and local governments.

Before the Senate vote, both Neal and U.S. Rep. McGovern, D-Worcester, released city-by-city estimates for how much local communities would get.

In Neal’s district, that would mean $98 million for Springfield, $33 million for Pittsfield and $9 million for Westfield as examples. For McGovern’s district, Worcester would get $115.1 million, Northampton $17 million and Greenfield $1.7 million.

“There could be a little bit of a change but it’s not going to be substantial,” Neal said Monday.

He said he’ll encourage Gov. Charlie Baker to use broadband funding in the bill to fund last-mile internet connectivity efforts in rural Massachusetts.

Neal said the Rescue Act will help by putting money in peoples pockets and funding actions against the pandemic and the reopening of schools across the country.

Stricken from the bill in the Senate was a plan to increase the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. The Senate also cut back the House’ plan to extend enhanced unemployment benefits to the end of the year. Instead, they’ll now run out in September, according to the legislation that passed.

“That will give us a chance to evaluate,” Neal said.

Also expect a standalone bill on increasing the minimum wage, Neal said. It’ll pass the House and go to the Senate where it’ll be the subject of negotiations.

Mitt Romney, the Republican senator from Utah and former Massachusetts governor, has proposed a $10-an-hour federal minimum wage, up from $7.50 now.

“I imagine that will be the starting point for negotiations,” Neal said. “I don’t know where it will end up.”

In Massachusetts, the state’s minimum wage went up Jan. 1 — from $12.75, where it had been for a year, to $13.50. The minimum wage is set to go up incrementally until hitting $15 an hour in 2023.