By Kristina Peterson and Andrew Duehren 

WASHINGTON -- The House looked on track to pass the latest version of the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package later this week, as liberal Democrats swallowed their frustration with the Senate's changes and prepared to approve the bill for a second time.

The House is expected to narrowly pass the bill Tuesday or Wednesday, sending it to the White House for President Biden's signature. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D., Md.) had initially said the House would take its first procedural vote on the bill Monday, but processing the bill's Senate paperwork pushed the vote slightly later in the week, aides said.

The legislation would provide $300 in weekly unemployment benefits through Sept. 6, send $1,400 direct payments to many Americans, direct $350 billion to state and local governments, fund vaccine distribution and expand the child tax credit, among other aid.

Democratic leaders can afford to lose no more than four Democratic votes if all Republicans vote against the bill again. Only two Democrats joined all Republicans to vote against the relief bill last month, both more centrist lawmakers: Reps. Kurt Schrader of Oregon and Jared Golden of Maine.

"Our focus continues to be on the American Rescue Plan and getting it across the finish line," said White House press secretary Jen Psaki. "The president is taking nothing for granted."

The House approved an earlier version of the relief package late last month, then watched in irritation as an increase in the minimum wage to $15 an hour was stripped from it due to the Senate's rules. Last week, centrists in the Senate pushed to phase out the $1,400 stimulus checks more quickly for some households and reduced the weekly federal unemployment benefits to $300, down from $400 in the original House bill.

But progressives said despite the Senate's changes, they still found plenty to rally around in the final legislation that passed the Senate Saturday. The White House over the weekend said Mr. Biden supported the chamber's changes to the bill.

"The concessions made in the Senate were minor in the grand scheme of the American Rescue Plan, which is transformative by historical standards," Rep. Ritchie Torres (D., N.Y.) said Monday. "Everything in life is a disappointment when measured against perfection, but it is hard to overstate the magnitude of an expanded child tax credit."

"The biggest source of disappointment and frustration is the lack of the minimum wage increase, but people are not going to vote against the bill because something good wasn't in it," Rep. Ro Khanna (D., Calif.) said Monday.

The bill includes an expansion of the credit that would send money to households, increasing the benefit to $3,000 a child from $2,000 while adding a $600 bonus for children under age 6.

The Democratic plan would increase the credit, make it entirely refundable and authorize periodic payments. Currently millions of very low-income households don't get the full credit because they don't pay enough tax or earn enough income to take advantage of it.

Counting the child credit, the $1,400 payments and other tax provisions, the bill provides a 20% boost in after-tax income to the lowest-earning 20% of households, according to a Tax Policy Center estimate released on Monday.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D., Wash.), chairwoman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said Monday that she had spent the weekend talking with liberal Democrats about their concerns around the bill, but thought most would come around to support it again.

"I've had lots of conversations with our members who all feel frustrated that minimum wage was not included," she said. But, she noted, "everybody understands this is a big progressive win," and given the 50-50 split of the Senate, "the House is always going to be more progressive than the Senate."

Republicans have denounced the package for being too costly and unnecessary as the economy recovers, and for including spending not directly related to the pandemic. Congress last year passed roughly $4 trillion in aid since the beginning of the pandemic.

"This bill is not about responding to Covid. It is about exploiting the final stretch of a public health crisis in order to enact a longstanding liberal wish list for years into the future," Sen. Pat Toomey (R., Pa.) said after the bill passed the Senate.

Democrats passed the legislation in the Senate using a process called reconciliation that allowed them to pass it without GOP support. But to use that process, measures needed to be closely connected to the budget. The Senate parliamentarian ruled late last month that the minimum-wage increase didn't comply with those rules.

The Senate also altered the bill to shrink the full $1,400 stimulus checks to zero more quickly for individuals making more than $75,000 and married couples making more than $150,000. The earlier House bill phased those $1,400 payments out completely for individuals making $100,000 and married couples making $200,000. The Senate bill sets those top levels at $80,000 and $160,000.

And following a day-long standoff with Sen. Joe Manchin (D., W.Va.) on Friday, Senate Democrats agreed to reduce the federal jobless benefits to $300 and extend them through Sept 6. Many Senate Democrats had coalesced around a plan earlier Friday to lower the payments to $300, but extend them through Oct. 4, but Mr. Manchin balked at that. The original House bill included $400 payments through Aug. 29.

Ms. Jayapal said she called Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Friday when the proposal to lower the jobless benefits to $300 a week emerged and warned him not to go too far beyond that.

She said she told Mr. Schumer, "We cannot weaken this thing anymore or I don't know what's going to happen in the House," she told reporters Monday.

The package should allow the U.S. economy to return to full employment in 2022, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Monday.

"We expect the resources here to really fuel a very strong economic recovery," Ms. Yellen said in an interview on MSNBC.

Write to Andrew Duehren at andrew.duehren@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 08, 2021 16:38 ET (21:38 GMT)