After working all night on a mountain of amendments – nearly all from Republicans and rejected – the limp senators approved the sprawling package in a 50-49 party line vote. That ensures final Congressional approval by the House next week, so lawmakers can send it to Biden for signature.
“We tell the American people aid is on the way,” said Senate Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y. Recalling the country’s desire to return to normalcy, he added, “Our job now is to help our country move from this stormy present to that hopeful future.”
The massive package – total spending is nearly one-tenth the size of the entire US economy – is Biden’s greatest early priority. It stands as its formula for tackling the deadly virus and a faltering economy, twin crises that have plagued the country for a year.
Saturday’s vote was also a pivotal political moment for Biden and the Democrats, who need nothing less than unanimity from the party in a 50-50 senate they lead over Vice President Kamala Harris’s tiebreaker. They also have a slight 10-vote lead in the House.
A small but pivotal group of moderate Democrats took advantage of changes to the bill that infuriated the progressives, making it no easier for speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., To guide the measure through Parliament. But rejection of their first, signed bill was not an option for Democrats, who must spend two years trying to lead Congress with virtually no room for error.
The bill provides for instant payments of up to $ 1,400 for most Americans, comprehensive emergency unemployment benefits, and massive piles of spending on COVID-19 vaccines and testing, states and cities, schools and ailing industries, along with tax breaks to help lower-income people . , families with children and consumers purchasing health insurance.
SEE ALSO: What Is Not In The Senate Version Of The COVID-19 Bill
The package met stiff opposition from Republicans, who call the package a wasteful expense for Democrats’ liberal allies, ignoring recent indications that the pandemic and the economy could turn the corner.
“Never again has the Senate haphazardly spent $ 2 trillion,” Mitch McConnell, Senate minority leader R-Ky said. Of the Democrats, he said, “Their top priority was not pandemic relief. It was their wish list in Washington.”
The Senate kicked off a dreaded “vote-a-thon” – a continuous series of votes on amendments – shortly before midnight on Friday, and by the end there were about three dozen left. The Senate had been in session since 9:00 a.m. EST Friday.
Overnight, the room was like an experiment in the best techniques for staying awake. Several lawmakers seemed to rest their eyes or doze at their desks, often burying their faces in their hands. At one point, Senator Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, at the age of 48, one of the younger senators trotted into the room and did a long stretch.
The measure follows five previous measures totaling about $ 4 trillion that Congress has enacted since last spring and comes amid signs of a possible turnaround.
SEE ALSO: Could This Be The Last Package Of Stimulus Controls?
Vaccine supply is on the rise, deaths and cases have declined, but remains frighteningly high, and hires were surprisingly strong last month, even though the economy remains 10 million jobs below pre-pandemic levels.
The Senate package was repeatedly delayed as the Democrats made eleventh hour changes to balance the demands of their competing moderate and progressive factions.
Work on the bill came to a halt on Friday after an agreement between Democrats on extending emergency unemployment benefits appeared to collapse. Nearly 12 hours later, top Democrats and Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, arguably the most conservative Democrat in the room, said they had a deal and the Senate approved it through a 50-49 vote party line.
Under their compromise, weekly emergency unemployment checks of $ 300 – on top of regular government benefits – would be extended, with a final payment on Oct. 6. There would also be tax breaks on some of those payments, which would put people out of the pandemic abruptly. jobs and risked tax fines on benefits.
Much like the Senate’s bill, the House bill brought in $ 400 weekly benefits through August. Current payments of $ 300 a week expire March 14, and Democrats want the bill to be on Biden’s desk by then to avoid a lapse.
Manchin and the Republicans have argued that higher unemployment benefits discourage people from returning to work, a rationale that most Democrats and many economists reject.
That unemployment benefit agreement wasn’t the only move that showed the influence of moderates.
The Senate voted Friday to throw out a House-approved increase in the federal minimum wage to $ 15 an hour by 2025, a major defeat for progressives. Eight Democrats opposed the increase, suggesting that Senator Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., And other progressives who promise to continue the efforts in the coming months will face a tough fight.
The party leaders also agreed to qualify for the $ 1,400 stimulus vouchers that will go to most Americans. That amount would be gradually reduced until it reaches zero for people making $ 80,000 and couples making $ 160,000, according to the Senate bill. Those amounts were higher in the House version.
Many of the rejected GOP amendments were either attempts to force Democrats to cast politically clumsy votes or for Republicans to show their zeal on issues that appeal to their constituents.
These include failed attempts to stop the bill’s education funds from attending schools closed due to the pandemic that are not reopening their doors, or that allow transgender students born male to participate in female sports. One amendment would have blocked aid to so-called sanctuary cities, where local authorities refuse to help federal officials arrest immigrants residing illegally in the US.
Friday’s stalemate over unemployment benefits stalemate was not the bill’s long delay. A day earlier, Senator Ron Johnson, R-Wis., Forced the chamber clerks to read out the full 628-page waiver bill, a tiring task that took nearly 11 hours.
Associated Press writers Lisa Mascaro and Kevin Freking contributed to this report.
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