Senate Democrats powered through the votes to begin consideration of President Joe Biden’s USD 1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill on Thursday afternoon, putting the party on course to clinch a new stimulus law well before its official March 14 deadline.
The Democrats hope to send the bill to President Joe Biden's desk before unemployment benefits expire this month. On Thursday, the upper chamber approved a procedural step in a fifty-fifty vote along party line, with Vice President Kamala Harris breaking a tie, reports Xinhua news agency.
After frantic intraparty negotiations, Senate Democrats finalized their bill and immediately put it on the floor before most senators had a chance to read it. But the party had already reached broad agreement on stimulus checks and unemployment benefits, giving Democrats the confidence to move forward.
Senate Republicans, who have opposed the high price tag of the relief package, could use certain tools to delay a final vote on the bill by hours or even days. "I just objected to skipping past the reading of the Democrats' 628-page bill that was just introduced minutes ago," Republican Senator Ron Johnson tweeted on Thursday afternoon. "If they're going to add nearly USD 2T to the national debt at least we should know what's in the bill," Johnson said.
The House-approved bill also includes a provision to raise the federal minimum wage to USD 15, which would face tough tests in the 50-50 split Senate, where parliamentarians have ruled that the wage increase violates the budget reconciliation process and cannot be included.
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