WASHINGTON (AP) – The Senate passed a measure early Friday that would allow Democrats to release President Joe Biden’s $ 1.9 trillion coronavirus contingency plan without Republican backing. Vice President Kamala Harris sat in the chair to cast the casting vote, her first.
Democrats in the room applauded after Harris announced the 51-50 vote at around 5:30 a.m. The move came after a grueling nighttime session, during which senators voted on amendments that could shape the outline of the eventual COVID-19 support law.
The budget is now returning to Parliament, where it will likely be re-approved on Friday to reflect the changes made by the Senate. The last passage opens the next phase in the drafting of the virus control law, dividing the work among several congressional committees.
Senate Leader Chuck Schumer DN.Y. called the adoption of the resolution “the first major step to get our country back on the road to recovery”.
By moving on a fast track, the goal for Democrats is to have COVID aid approved in March, when additional unemployment benefits and other pandemic aid ends. It’s an aggressive timeline that will test the new administration and Congress’s ability to deliver results. This means that the measure must be quickly purged by the Lower House so that it can return to the Upper House.
“Next week, we will be writing legislation to create a path to the final passage for the Biden American Rescue Plan so that we can complete our work by the end of February,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wrote in a Friday letter to colleagues.
The push for stimulus comes amid new signs of a weakening US economy. Employers added just 49,000 jobs in January, after cutting 227,000 jobs in December, the Labor Department said Friday. Restaurants, retailers, manufacturers and even the healthcare industry shed workers last month, with state and local governments letting go of non-school workers as well.
The unemployment rate fell from 6.7% to 6.3%, but there was a drop in the number of people working or looking for a job as a sign of some people leaving work. The US economy is 9.9 million jobs shy of the pre-pandemic level.
Biden, who has met with lawmakers in recent days to discuss the package, will speak at the White House on Friday with the House committee chairpersons who will draft the bill as part of the budget process known as’ reconciliation’.
Biden also plans to make comments on the economy on Friday as he continues to put pressure on Congress to “go big” on his aid package.
With a rising number of viruses and a strained economy, the president’s goal is to have COVID-19 aid approved in March, when additional unemployment benefits and other pandemic relief measures expire. Money for vaccine distribution, direct payments to households, reopening schools and business help are at stake.
The Senate passed amendment 99-1 that would prevent the $ 1,400 in direct checks in Biden’s proposal from going to “high-income taxpayers.” But the measure, led by Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Joe Manchin, West Virginia, is ultimately symbolic and non-binding and does not state the level of someone’s eligibility for higher income.
The marathon’s Senate session produced test votes on several Democratic priorities, including a $ 15 minimum wage. The Senate voted to pass an amendment from Senator Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, who opposed raising wages during pandemic. Ernst said a pay rise would be “devastating” for small businesses at this point.
None of the amendments to the budget are binding on Democrats when drafting their COVID plan, but pushing through a pay rise may prove difficult. Even if a wage of $ 15 can overcome the procedural challenges in the final bill, the passage will require the support of every Democrat in the 50-50 Senate, which can be a tall order.
Senator Bernie Sanders, an outspoken supporter of the pay rise, promised to go ahead. “We need to end the starvation wage crisis,” he said.