After five COVID stimulus bills under Trump, Pelosi credits Biden, Democrats for March jobs report

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Friday credited President Biden for the positive March jobs report released hours earlier, despite former President Trump signing five COVID-19 stimulus bills during the coronavirus pandemic and launching Operation Warp Speed.

Since February 2020, the Republican-led Senate and Democratic-led House passed five stimulus packages to respond to the coronavirus pandemic that Trump signed into law. The largest bills were the $2.2 trillion CARES Act in March and the $900 billion coronavirus stimulus bill in December 2020. 

President Biden signed his first major piece of legislation, the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, on March 11 of this year. The legislation is the second-largest economic stimulus bill in history.

The Trump administration also started Operation Warp Speed, a public-private partnership, to accelerate the COVID-19 vaccination process. The program has continued under the Biden administration.

On Friday, the Labor Department reported that 916,000 jobs were added during March of 2021.

Pelosi released a statement reacting to the report and urged passage of Biden's $2 trillion infrastructure and jobs plan. The full legislative language of the proposal hasn't been released yet.

"The March jobs report is resounding evidence that, under Congressional Democrats and President Biden, Help Is Here. Because of Democrats’ leadership, over 100 million vaccine doses have been delivered, over 100 million checks have been sent, and nearly a trillion dollars are being put in workers’ pockets by the life-saving American Rescue Plan," the California Democrat said in the statement.

 

"However, well over a third of jobs lost during the pandemic have not returned and millions of workers – particularly women and people of color – remain pushed out of the workforce. It is imperative that, as we deliver the benefits of the American Rescue Plan as urgently and equitably as possible, we advance President Biden’s American Jobs Act: a visionary, once-in-a-century investment in America’s workers and future, which will Build our economy Back Better from this crisis by revitalizing our nation’s infrastructure," she also said.

Democrats moved Biden's stimulus plan through Congress using budget reconciliation to avoid the need to rely on Republican votes for its passage. Pelosi said Democrats would work with the GOP on infrastructure. 

 

"Investing in infrastructure has long been bipartisan, and Democrats hope to work in that spirit to craft and pass this historic package to create millions of good-paying union jobs, invest in workers and turbocharge America’s global competitiveness," she said. "Together, the Biden-Harris Administration and Congressional Democrats will work to advance justice, progress and opportunity for all."