JOE ISN'T BLACK:

The American Rescue Plan Act, the second-largest economic stimulus bill in US history, is Joe Biden's flagship legislative item. It includes one-off $1,400 cheques for Americans earning up to $75,000 a year, an extension of federal unemployment benefits until the beginning of September, and thousands of dollars in tax credits for children, among other provisions.

A Pew survey published on Tuesday showed 70 per cent of American adults favoured the bill, compared to 28 per cent who said they opposed it. Among Republicans or independents who said they "leaned Republican", a significant 41 per cent said they favoured the package.

"The package is popular and widely supported, and the Republican objections to it have not been persuasive enough or consistent enough to do the bill any real damage at this point," said Whit Ayres, a veteran Republican pollster. [...]

Most Democrats are not fazed by the criticisms. Matt Bennett, co-founder of the centrist Democratic think-tank Third Way, said Republicans were "living in the past" by trying to attack the bill in the same way they went after Barack Obama's response to the financial crisis in 2009.

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