WASHINGTON — Acting swiftly in an extraordinary time, the House rushed President Donald Trump a $2.2 trillion rescue package Friday which he signed, tossing a life preserver to a U.S. economy and health care system left flailing by the coronavirus pandemic.

“This will deliver urgently needed relief,” Trump said as he signed the bill in the Oval Office, flanked only by Republican lawmakers. He thanked members of both parties for putting Americans “first.”

The House approved the sweeping measure by voice vote, as strong majorities of both parties lined up behind the most colossal economic relief bill in the nation’s history.

“Today I spoke on the House floor to support the bipartisan CARES Act,” said U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb, D-17th, in a Tweet Friday, “which provides emergency relief to all Americans during this public health crisis.”

The package will ship payments of up to $1,200 to millions of Americans, bolster unemployment benefits, offer loans, grants and tax breaks to businesses large and small, and flush billions more to states, local governments and the nation’s nearly overwhelmed health care system.

“Help is on the way to American workers, businesses, and health care heroes,” said U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, R-16th, in a Tweet Friday. “The CARES Act is headed to @POTUS @realDonaldTrump.”

CARES stands for the “Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security” Act.

“Today we’ve all acknowledged our nation faces an economic and health emergency of historic proportions,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. She said Americans deserve a full-on government response “to address these threats to their lives and their livelihood and they need it now.”

As Trump signed the measure, the virus’ death toll in the U.S. surpassed 1,300 and the number of confirmed infections spiraled above 93,000.

A record 3.3 million people filed for jobless benefits last week as growing numbers of companies lock their doors.

Illustrating the virus’ ongoing spread, Rep. Joe Cunningham, D-S.C., became the fourth member of Congress to announce he’d been diagnosed with COVID-19.

Kelly announced Friday he also has tested positive for COVID-19.

Passage of the CARES Act came after Democratic and Republican leaders banded together and outmaneuvered a maverick GOP lawmaker. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., a libertarian who opposed the bill and often bucks the GOP leadership, tried to force a roll call vote.

“Mr. Speaker, I came here to make sure our republic doesn’t die by unanimous consent in an empty chamber, and I request a recorded vote,” Massie said.

A roll call would have forced many lawmakers scattered around the country to take risky flights back to the Capitol, and it would have delayed approval of a measure that was certain to pass anyway.

After Massie made his request, the congressman presiding over the debate — Rep. Anthony Brown, D-Md. — ruled that enough lawmakers were present to allow a voice vote, and the bill passed as most members shouted, “Aye!”

The debate was mostly conciliatory, with members of both parties praising the measure as a rescue for a ravaged nation.

However, the bipartisan amity went only so far. Top congressional Democrats were not invited to the White House signing ceremony, said Democratic aides speaking on condition of anonymity to describe the situation.

The House’s certain approval was telegraphed Wednesday night, when the Senate passed the legislation 96-0.

The latest bill is unlikely to be the end of the federal response. Issues like more generous food stamp payments, aid to state and local governments and family leave may be revisited in subsequent legislation.

Untested elements

Key elements of the legislation are untested, such as grants to small businesses to keep workers on payroll and complex lending programs to larger businesses.

Policymakers worry that bureaucracies like the Small Business Administration may become overwhelmed, and conservatives fear that a new, generous unemployment benefit will dissuade jobless people from returning to the workforce.

A new $500 billion subsidized lending program for larger businesses is unproven as well.

The bill finances a response with a price tag that equals half the size of the entire $4 trillion-plus annual federal budget. The $2.2 trillion estimate is the White House’s best guess of the spending it contains.

The legislation will provide one-time direct payments to Americans of $1,200 per adult making up to $75,000 a year and $2,400 to a married couple making up to $150,000, with $500 payments per child.

Unemployment insurance will be far more generous, with $600 per week tacked onto regular state jobless payments through the end of July. States and local governments will receive $150 billion in supplemental funding to help them provide basic and emergency services during the crisis.

The legislation also establishes a $454 billion program for guaranteed, subsidized loans to larger industries in hopes of leveraging up to $4.5 trillion in lending to distressed businesses, states, and municipalities.

All will be up to the Treasury Department’s discretion, though businesses controlled by Trump or immediate family members and by members of Congress will be ineligible.

There is also $150 billion devoted to the health care system, including $100 billion for grants to hospitals and other health care providers buckling under the strain of COVID-19.

Republicans successfully pressed for an employee retention tax credit that’s estimated to provide $50 billion to companies that retain employees on payroll and cover 50 percent of workers’ paycheck up to $10,000. Companies will also be able to defer payment of the 6.2 percent Social Security payroll tax. A huge tax break for interest costs and operating losses limited by the 2017 tax overhaul was restored at a $200 billion cost in a boon for the real estate sector.

Butler Eagle email and phone requests for comment from Kelly, Lamb, U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey and U.S. Sen. Bob Casey were not returned at the time this article was written.

Eagle staff writer Samantha Beal contributed to this report.