With President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus bill on the verge of final passage in the House, Connecticut’s congressional delegation on Tuesday praised the legislation, which they say will deliver $10 billion to the state and its residents.
“The American Rescue Package meets the moment,” Rep. Rosa DeLauro said on a call with all five of Connecticut’s representatives in the U.S. House. “It provides bold, economic relief, and we ensure that we are answering the calls for help from the hard-working people of Connecticut.”
The bill, expected to pass the House and be signed into law in the coming days, includes $1,400 stimulus payments to most Americans, expanded unemployment relief, a boost for COVID-19 vaccination efforts, more assistance to families with children and substantial aid for schools and government.
“Help is on the way,” Rep. John Larson said. “What this help means is it means vaccines in your arm and money in your pocket and relief for your local community and your school system.”
Here is more of what Connecticut’s five representatives had to say.
Better to ‘go big’
The state’s representatives, all Democrats, said they appreciated the scope of relief bill, which DeLauro said will deliver $4.2 billion in state and local relief to Connecticut, including $2.6 billion to the state, $638 million to counties, $142 million to state capital projects funding and more.
Connecticut’s total windfall will be even larger — likely more than $10 billion, Larson said — when including money paid directly to Connecticut residents.
Rep. Jim Himes said Democrats had learned lessons from 2009, when they cut down a post-recessions stimulus bill amid pushback from Republicans.
“We ended up doing a $787 billion stimulus, which in retrospect proved to be much to small,” Himes said. “And we know that because the recovery in 2010, 2011, 2012 was a lot lower than it needed to be.”
Himes said it’s better to go “too big” as opposed to “too small.”
“The implications of going too small is that restaurants stay closed, businesses are operating at half capacity, Americans aren’t employed,” Himes said. “That is a major, major torpedo in the side of the American employee.”
Rep. Jahana Hayes emphasized the economic pain many Connecticut residents have felt during the pandemic.
“It cannot be under-stated the urgency of the need,” Hayes said. “I’ve heard from people in my community, first selectmen, mayors, both Republican and Democrat that the need is great, that it is great and that they need our support.”
Focus on ‘everyday Americans’
House members said this relief bill was designed chiefly for regular people, not wealthy individuals or large corporations.
Larson noted that whereas President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax cut largely benefited wealthy Americans, this package would help “working and middle classes,” while DeLauro spoke to the dire situation of some Connecticut residents.
“People are desperate, they are out of their homes, they don’t have a job through no fault of their own, they cannot put food on the table,” DeLauro said. “Let’s try to do something to aid and assist the American people at the moment wherever they are, and particularly communities of color, which are really going under.”
Rep. Joe Courtney said he hoped the bill would provide not only short-term aid but also long-term benefits to the national and state economies.
“If we do nothing vs. if we pass this bill, we’re talking about recovering jobs at a much faster pace for the U.S. economy,” Courtney said.
National debt, inflation not major concerns
Connecticut’s congressional delegation largely rejected concerns about the national debt and about inflation, citing the extreme circumstances of the pandemic and economic crisis.
“In a time of national crisis you don’t worry about the debt and the deficit,” Himes said. “We worried too much in ’09. Frankly, I’ll cop to that. I worried too much in ’09, and as a result we did an inadequate stimulus.”
Himes said he viewed the possibility of inflation as a more legitimate risk — but not one that should derail help for Americans.
“When 1,500 people are dying every single day and when there are still $20 million people out of work and when we need to rebuild this economy, you don’t risk going too small, you risk going too big,” Himes said.
Himes said that if the relief bill turns out to be inflationary, the federal reserve “has a lot of tools” to address that problem. Larson noted the Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen had both signed off on the relief bill.
‘Historic’ attempt to fight child poverty
DeLauro said she was particularly excited about measures in the relief bill that will help families with children, including an increased tax credit for families with children between 6 and 17 as well as an additional $600 for children under six.
“It’s a new lifeline to the middle class, and it cuts child poverty nearly in half,” DeLauro said. “It’s really a transforming piece of legislation in that respect.”
DeLauro said the aid would alleviate child poverty for all groups but particularly for Black and Latino families.
The enhanced child tax credit was one of several measures aimed at helping children that Connecticut’s delegation talked up on Tuesday. DeLauro noted that the bill also provides direct relief to schools and child-care providers, which she hopes will protect jobs there, while Hayes touted provisions she had pushed to mitigate learning loss.
$15 minimum wage to return
A $15 federal minimum wage was dropped from the relief bill after eight Democratic senators declined to support the measure, but Connecticut’s representatives said the issue will return in the House.
“It will come up as another bill, it will come up in some other vehicle, but it will pass,” DeLauro said.
All five Connecticut representatives have supported the $15 minimum wage, which has long been a top issue for progressive Democrats and has gained increasing support in recent years.
Alex Putterman can be reached at aputterman@courant.com.
