Sheila Jackson Lee: “As a senior member of the Committees on the Judiciary, on Homeland Security, on the Budget, and as the Member of…”

“As a senior member of the Committees on the Judiciary, on Homeland Security, on the Budget, and as the Member of Congress for a congressional district that has experienced the worst of COVID-19 as a public health emergency and economic catastrophe, I rise in strong support of the Senate Amendment to H.R. 1319, the ``American Rescue Plan Act of 2021,'' which provides $1.9 trillion to take immediate and decisive action to crush the virus and vaccinate our people, build the economy back better, reopen schools, and provide needed support and assistance to state and local governments that have been asked to do too much with too little for far too long. To be clear, I would have preferred the version of the American Rescue Plan passed on February 26, 2021 by the House, without a single Republican vote, but the amended version of the legislation is infinitely better than the feeble and disinterested efforts, and callous disregard of the previous Administration to this deadly pandemic. Mr Speaker, I support the legislation before us because it will put money directly in the pockets of hard-pressed and weary Americans, vaccination shots in their arms, and help put them back to work and their children back in school. The key differences between the bills passed by the House and Senate are: 1. The Senate-passed bill does not include the $15 an hour minimum wage provisions that were included in the bill passed by the House. 2.…”