Senate Democrats voted early Saturday morning for a weekly federal unemployment benefit of $ 300 until early September – effectively reversing a GOP attempt to end those payments in mid-July.
Senators voted 50-49 to add the amendment by the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee Ron Wyden
Ronald (Ron) Lee Wyden Progressives Won’t Oppose Incentive Control Limits Bill GOP Pulls Out To Postpone COVID-19 Package Overnight Health Care: Biden Condemns Texas, Mississippi For Lifting Coronavirus Restrictions: ‘Neanderthal Thinking’ | Senate panel splits along party lines at Becerra | Over 200,000 sign up for ACA plans during Biden’s special enrollment period MORE (D-Ore.) In the approximately $ 1.9 trillion coronavirus bill currently being discussed by the chamber.
All 50 Democratic senators vote in favor of the amendment, which provides for the weekly payment of $ 300 until September 6. Every Republican present to vote opposed it.
The vote came about an hour after Senate Republicans were able to pull off a short-lived victory when they passed an amendment from Sen. Rob Portman
Robert (Rob) Jones PortmanMandel gets Club for Growth nod in Ohio Senate primary Rick Scott caught in the middle of opposing GOP factions Five takeaways from dramatic Capitol security hearing MORE (R-Ohio) temporarily in the coronavirus law. Portman’s amendment provided for a payment of $ 300 a week, but until July 18.
Republicans could claim the short win because Sen. Joe Manchin
Joseph (Joe) Manchin Overnight: Capitol Police May Ask National Guard to Stay | Biden’s Pentagon Policy Nominee Faces Criticism | Naval Academy Midshipmen Moved to Hotels Progressives Won’t Oppose Bill On Limits On Incentive Controls Senate Votes To Take Over COVID-19 Relief Bill MORE (DW.Va.), who supported the subsequent Democratic amendment, also voted in favor of Portman’s proposal.
But a Democratic assistant had wired in advance how the drama would turn out. There was a delay of about an hour between Portman and Wyden’s votes as the Democrats were still waiting for the cost of their proposal.
“We expect Senator Portman to offer his UI amendment and it will be passed. However, it will be replaced by the Senate Democrats’ new UI agreement, which will be offered tonight and passed as an amendment,” the Democratic aide said ahead of the meeting. the mood. .
Both proposals are a change from the bill passed by the House that would have resulted in a payment of $ 400 a week through the end of August.
Democrats kept the debate over the coronavirus bill in limbo for nearly 12 hours from Friday afternoon as they tried to work out the agreement on the unemployment language.
They had initially indicated that they had struck a deal Friday morning that would have delivered unemployment benefits of $ 300 through early October.
But as the day dragged on – and the Democrats set a new record for the longest vote in modern Senate history – it became clear that the Democrats were in a hurry to block Manchin’s support.
Because of the thin 50-50 margin, Democrats needed the support of their entire caucus to be able to bill a deal on unemployment benefits. They announced their final agreement shortly before 8 p.m. on Friday, which was supported by Manchin.
In addition to paying $ 300 a week, the Democratic Agreement also omits $ 10,200 in unemployment benefits from federal income taxes for households with incomes less than $ 150,000.
“Our goal was to provide the best possible protection for unemployed Americans who could pass the Senate,” Wyden said ahead of the vote.