Democratic lawmakers and the White House rejected a Republican proposal to cut the $ 1.9 trillion bailout into smaller pieces. Lawmakers proved willing to pass the massive virus and economic aid package by a majority without input from the opposition.
Despite calls for unity from President Joe Biden, Democrats said that despite persistently high unemployment rates and the dire state of the economy, they are unwilling to argue for Republican support that may not materialize. They also don’t want to limit the size and scope of a package that they say will provide the money needed to distribute vaccines, reopen schools, and send money to homes and businesses.
Biden has directly appealed to lawmakers from both parties, while stressing the priority of progress. “We have a lot to do and the first thing we need to do is pass this COVID package on,” Biden said in the Oval Office Thursday.
The confrontation with Biden’s first legislative priority has made the new bailout a political test: for the new administration, for democratic control of Congress, and for the role of Republicans in a post-Trump political landscape.
Success would set Biden a major political milestone in his first 100 days in office, freeing $ 400 billion to expand vaccinations and reopen schools, direct payments of $ 1,400 to households, and other priorities, such as gradually increasing the federal minimum wage to $ 15 an hour. A failure at the start of his presidency would be a major setback.
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Democratic lawmakers and senators are operating in the knowledge that time is short. Senate majority block leader Chuck Schumer and house speaker Nancy Pelosi lay the groundwork to force approval that may begin next week.
They are drafting a bill that would start the process to pass the bailout package with a simple 51-vote majority in the Senate instead of the usual 60-vote threshold to pass a law. The goal would be to make it before unemployment benefits, housing assistance and other similar provisions expire in March.
Schumer said he was inspired by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s advice to “go big” to weather the COVID-19 economic crisis.
“Wherever you look, the alarm bells ring,” said Schumer in the room.
Republican senators warned colleagues in a bipartisan group in a “candid” conversation that Biden and the Democrats are wrong to fill the aid package with other priorities and pass it on forcibly without their support, said a person familiar with the matter. and who spoke under the leadership. condition of anonymity as it is a private session.