Dems clear path for $1.9 trillion COVID package

BIDEN: "This is about people's lives. This is not just about numbers, this is about people's lives."

President Joe Biden on Friday stressed the urgency to enact a $1.9 trillion pandemic-related aid package as quickly as possible to beat back a pandemic that has killed more than 450,000 Americans and left millions jobless.

BIDEN: "We can't do too much here. We can do too little."

Hours after the Senate approved a budget plan with amendments in a pre-dawn vote, Friday… the House approved it too - enabling Democrats to push the massive aid bill through Congress with or without Republican support.

Biden said he was open to compromise with Republicans as long as they did not slow things down.

"So I am going to act. And I am going to act fast. I'd like to be, I'd like to be doing it with support of Republicans, I've met with Republicans, with some very fine people who want to get something done. But they are just not willing to go as far as I think we have to go.”

The approved budget amendments can serve as guidelines for developing the actual coronavirus aid bill in coming weeks.

A chunk of Biden’s $1.9 trillion dollar proposal would extend special unemployment benefits and make direct payments to people to help them pay bills and stimulate the economy.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi predicted the final legislation could pass Congress before March 15, when the special unemployment benefits expire.