The Senate voted 99-to-1 to approve an amendment, led by Sens.
It passed with eight Democrats voting in favor. Young (R-Ind.) offered an amendment to block stimulus payments to undocumented immigrants. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) proposed an amendment to bar funding from schools that have not reopened once teachers have been vaccinated. The main budget resolution would provide for stimulus payments up to $1,400 per person, but senior Democrats have talked about narrowing who qualifies to low- and moderate-income families.President Biden is expected to speak about the stimulus relief package on Friday morning.The House is expected to take up and pass the Senate’s budget resolution within a day.Under the Senate’s arcane rules, debate on the budget resolution in the Senate triggered a freewheeling amendment process known as a “vote-a-rama” that began Thursday afternoon and lasted for the next 15 hours, with some 45 amendments considered on a wide array of topics. They’re using this phony budget to set the table to ram through their $1.9 trillion rough draft.” “Notwithstanding the actual needs, notwithstanding all the talk about bipartisan unity, Democrats in Congress are plowing ahead. “This is not the time for trillions more dollars to make perpetual lockdowns and economic decline a little more palatable,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). Republican senators accused Democrats of hypocrisy and argued that, after already devoting $4 trillion to fighting the pandemic, including $900 billion in December, there was no need to spend another $2 trillion on what they termed a wish-list of liberal priorities. “We have the opportunity to give hope to the American people and restore faith in our government to fight for them.” Stimulus FAQ: The new Democratic plan for $1,400 stimulus checksĭespite Biden’s campaign promises of unity and bipartisanship, now that Democrats control both chambers of Congress and the White House they appeared ready to leave Republicans behind. “With the passage of this resolution we have the opportunity not only to address the pandemic, to address the economic collapse, to address the reality that millions of kids have seen their education disrupted,” said Senate Budget Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). That process will take weeks, with Democrats eyeing mid-March as the deadline for final passage of the relief legislation because that is when enhanced unemployment benefits will expire if Congress doesn’t act first. With the budget resolution nearly complete, Congress can turn in earnest to writing Biden’s expansive pandemic relief proposal into law - and push it through the Senate, without Republican votes if necessary, under the special rules unlocked by the budget legislation. The House, which approved its own budget bill on Wednesday, is expected to act on on the Senate’s version within a day. Friday, after an all-night Senate session during which senators plowed through dozens of amendments in a chaotic process known as a “vote-a-rama.” Democrats cheered on progress to address the pandemic, while Republicans complained of partisanship and excessive spending. Passage of the budget bill by a 51-to-50 vote came just after 5:30 a.m. The Senate approved a budget bill early Friday that paves the way for passage of President Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package, with Vice President Harris casting the tiebreaking vote on the measure that will be key to enacting Biden’s first major legislative initiative.