With Biden's 1.9-trillion relief plan aimed at recovery, long-term challenges remain

WASHINGTON — US President Joe Biden has repeatedly defended his 1.9-trillion-US-dollar relief package, calling it necessary to help rein in a raging pandemic and bail out a ravaged economy, but the giant aid plan has raised eyebrows.

Republican lawmakers, who stand for a much smaller COVID-19 relief, have lashed out at Democrats' move to pass a procedural step that would allow them to push through the big bill in Congress without Republican support, calling it a partisan process.

Economists, meanwhile, voiced concerns about inflation risks and the ballooning deficit, noting that long-term economic challenges lie ahead, and that more investment in infrastructure and elsewhere would be vital for the country's future economic growth.