PBS高端访谈:美众议院将通过1.9万亿美元刺激法案（在线收听）

JUDY WOODRUFF: The U.S. House of Representatives is on the verge of passing a $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill, even after Democrats suffered a setback on one of their key priorities. Our Daniel Bush is here with the latest on where things stand and what comes next. So, hello to you, Dan. First of all, where do things stand with regard to this COVID economic relief?

DANIEL BUSH: Judy, the House is now one step closer towards passing this bill. We're waiting now for a vote that is going to happen at some point later tonight. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is a master at keeping her conference together, even in tough votes. It's expected that this bill will likely pass. There are, of course, some contentious issues, like minimum wage, as you just mentioned. But there are a lot of things in here that Democrats do want. Let's take a look at some of those big-ticket items, $1,400 in direct payments. Individuals making less than $75,000, couples making less than $150,000 would get the full amount. An additional $400 a week in unemployment assistance. That is up from $300 a week currently. That would extend to the end of August, as well as $350 billion in local and state aid, and $14 billion for vaccine research. So, there's a lot in this very, very big bill here. Now, if the House passes it later tonight, the action would shift to the Senate. I'm being told that the Senate is preparing to introduce its own version of this bill. Sources are telling me that could happen as early as next week. And Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer wants to get this done by March 14. That's when the current unemployment benefits included in the last COVID bill are set to expire, and he is confident, I'm being told, that he can make that deadline.

JUDY WOODRUFF: So, Dan, meantime, as we have mentioned, an officer of the Senate, the parliamentarian, has ruled that the minimum wage cannot be included in this COVID relief bill. So, where does minimum wage go from here?

DANIEL BUSH: That was a blow to Democrats and to President Biden, no question. A lot of criticism from all quarters in the party for that ruling. Bernie Sanders, senator from Vermont, he will play a role in this going forward in the negotiation with the Senate, came out with a Senate, saying: "Because of the archaic and undemocratic rules of the Senate, we are unable to move forward to end starvation wages in this country and raise the income of 32 million struggling Americans. The fight continues." The question now is, how does that fight continue? One option Democrats are looking at is finding a way to essentially do a work-around, including a different provision that would penalize businesses that don't pay workers more money. They think, Democrats think that they can get this bill passed through budget reconciliation -- that measure, rather, through budget reconciliation. It remains to be seen whether or not they can do that. That is the plan, though. And it does point to these -- this division in the party, Judy, between moderate Democrats in the House, who are a little uneasy about this minimum wage increase -- they think it might hurt small business owners in their districts -- and the progressives in the party, who are putting a lot of pressure on leadership, both in the House and the Senate, to include some form of a minimum wage increase in this COVID relief legislation.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Watching it very closely. Daniel Bush, thank you very much.

朱迪·伍德拉夫：美国众议院即将通过一项1.9万亿美元的新冠肺炎救助法案，即便此前民主党人在他们的一个关键优先事项上受挫。丹尼尔·布什在这里介绍了最新的情况，以及接下来会发生什么。你好，丹。首先，新冠肺炎经济救济的情况如何？

丹尼尔·布什：朱迪，众议院离通过这项法案又近了一步。我们现在正在等待今晚晚些时候的投票。众议院议长南希·佩洛西非常擅长保持会议团结，即使在艰难的投票中也是如此。预计这项法案很可能会通过。当然，也有一些有争议的问题，比如你刚才提到的最低工资。但这里有很多东西是民主党人想要的。我们来看看那些大项目，1400美元的直接付款。个人收入低于7.5万美元，夫妻收入低于15万美元将得到全额。每周增加400美元的失业救济金。这比目前的每周300美元有所提高。这将延长到8月底，以及3500亿美元的地方和国家援助，还有140亿美元的疫苗研究。这张账单很长。如果众议院在今晚晚些时候能够通过，行动将转移到参议院。有人告诉我，参议院正准备提出自己版本的这项法案。消息人士告诉我，这种情况最早可能在下周发生。参议院多数党领袖查克·舒默希望在3月14日之前完成这项工作。就在那时，上一份新冠肺炎法案中包含的当前失业救济金即将到期，我被告知，他有信心能够在最后期限前完成。

朱迪·伍德拉夫：正如我们所提到的，参议院的一位官员，国会议员，已经裁定最低工资不能包含在这项新冠肺炎救助法案中。那么，最低工资标准将何去何从？

丹尼尔·布什：这无疑是对民主党和拜登总统的打击。党内各方对那项裁决提出了许多批评。来自佛蒙特州的参议员伯尼·桑德斯将在与参议院的谈判中发挥作用，他说道：“由于参议院的过时和不民主的规定，我们无法在结束这个国家的低工资和提高3200万挣扎的美国人的收入方面取得进展，战斗还在继续。”现在的问题是，这场斗争如何继续？民主党人正在考虑的一个选择是找到一种基本上可以解决问题的方法，包括一个不同的条款来惩罚那些不给工人更多钱的企业。他们认为，民主党人认为他们可以通过预算和解来通过这项法案——这项措施，更确切地说，是通过预算和解。他们能否做到这一点还有待观察。不过，这就是计划。它确实指出了这些——党内的分歧，众议院的温和民主党人，他们对最低工资的提高有点不安——他们认为这可能会伤害所在地区的小企业家——以及党内的进步人士，他们对众议院和参议院的领导层施加了很大的压力，要求在这项新冠肺炎救助法案中加入某种形式的最低工资增长。

朱迪·伍德拉夫：观察得非常仔细。非常感谢你，丹尼尔·布什。