KANSAS CITY, Mo. — As the House of Representatives voted to pass the Senate-amended $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill, Missouri Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II had a message for Americans who are struggling: "Relief is on the way."
In an interview with 41 Action News, Cleaver said he was excited for the vote to take place because many Americans need help.
"Millions of Americans who are in trouble right now, [there are] about 10 million jobs that have not come back since the beginning of the pandemic, so those individuals will certainly benefit by this $1,400 check that they will receive," Cleaver said.
Though other Missouri and Kansas Congressional members have said the bill isn't bipartisan, Cleaver disagreed.
"It's something that is bipartisan because over 55% percent of Republicans support," Cleaver said.
The relief bill also includes $20 billion to assist with efforts to vaccinate more Americans.
Both Missourians and Kansans have previously expressed frustrations with the vaccination rollout.
As of Wednesday, roughly 1.6 million Missourians have received at least one vaccine dose, according to the state's vaccine dashboard.
Just over 17% of Missouri's population have initiated their vaccination, while 9.2% have completed their vaccination.
Kansas reported 740,850 total doses have been administered. Of those, 491,430 are first doses and 249,315 are second doses, according to the state's vaccine dashboard.
"We've had over 30 million Americans be vaccinated," Cleaver said. "That means that we have about 270 million that have not received the jab, as they call it in England."
Kansas City, Missouri, will receive a little more than $195 million from the latest package.
Following the vote, KCMO Mayor Quinton Lucas said the relief package is a "game changer" and also thanked Cleaver, congressional Democrats and Kansas Rep. Sharice Davids.
Davids, a Democrat, agreed with Lucas on the importance of the the latest relief package.
"I think it was really really important for us to make sure that we did what folks need," Davids said.
She also seconded how the relief bill would help bolster vaccination efforts.
"[We needed] to pass some legislation that's going to help increase the vaccine roll out," Davids said. "You know, we've seen some progress with the vaccine, we're moving in the right direction."
Following the vote from the House of Representatives, the bill heads to President Joe Biden for final passage.
