Dems eye Senate tool to pass COVID relief bill
‘Special Report’ anchor Bret Baier details the new COVID relief bill, the ethics of the White House press briefing, Vice President Kamala Harris’ mistake in West Virginia and more in ‘Reports from America’ ‘.
The “vote-a-rama” in the Senate, which started around 2:30 pm on Thursday, ended just before 6 am on Friday, after a marathon in which Republicans forced Democrats to vote on difficult issues for more than 15 hours.
The Senate adopted a 51-50 coronavirus relief budget resolution with Vice President Harris casting the tiebreaker vote. It is not a final bill, but it does allow the Senate to move towards a final bill under budget reconciliation rules, which would allow Democrats to pass a coronavirus stimulus plan bypassing a Republican obstructionist since his caucus stay together.
Senate Republicans were taking advantage of the Senate procedure that allows them to propose a plethora of amendments to the budget resolution, forcing senators to take a stand on a number of issues.
REPUBLICANS PUT DEMOCRATS ON TOP ON STIMULUS CHECKS, TAXES IN THE ‘VOTE-A-RAMA’ MARATHON
“I am very grateful that our caucus remained united in unity. We had no choice, given the problems that America faces and the desire to move on. And we have moved forward,” said Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y. “Many bipartisan amendments were adopted, so this was a bipartisan activity.”
He added: “We cannot stress enough the amount of aid that America needs during this terrible crisis and we cannot miss the point that we still have a long way to go. This was a giant first step … to bring America out of back, to overcome that horrible crisis and then to move America forward.
Although some Republican Party amendments were adopted, the final vote was along party lines.
Among the issues on which Republicans forced votes were efforts to support the Trump administration’s policy of staying in Mexico, to oppose President Biden’s blocking of the Keystone XL pipeline, to oppose the ban on fracking, to oppose the increase the federal minimum wage during the pandemic and more.
A final Democratic amendment proposed by Schumer undid three amendments proposed by the Republican Party that were passed with bipartisan majorities on fracturing, the Keystone XL pipeline and the opposite stimulus controls for illegal immigrants. Harris gave the deciding vote on that too.
In all, the Senate won 41 votes between Thursday and Friday.
Senate minority Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Previously indicated that Republicans would drag the process out with the goal of extracting a pound of Democratic meat in uncomfortable votes.
“We are going to register the senators,” he said on Thursday. “Expect votes that will prevent Washington from actively eliminating jobs during a recovery – like closing the Keystone pipeline; that minimum wage increase that works for all cases; and small business tax increases should be stopped during this emergency period.”
He had also said earlier that Republicans would bring amendments to stimulus checks for illegal immigrants, federal funding for school districts that do not receive children in the classroom, and more.
In other amendments during the vote-a-rama, the Senate voted 97-3 to support the maintenance of the US Embassy in Israel in Jerusalem; 50-50 on a failed amendment to support the border wall; 50-50 on a failed amendment that supports the free exercise of religion; 100-0 to oppose the withdrawal of police funds; 50-50 on a failed amendment to oppose the packaging of the Supreme Court; 50-50 on a failed amendment that opposes stimulus checks for people in prison; 50-50 on a failed amendment that opposes the Biden government’s move to restrict the leasing of oil and gas on federal land; 50-50 on a failed amendment that opposes a federal carbon tax; 53-47 in favor of an amendment supporting the expansion of health savings accounts; and more.
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On Thursday, Schumer criticized Republicans for planning to present “message amendments” to “score political points”.
“The changes proposed by our minority friends are entirely up to them,” said Schumer. He added that he hoped Republicans would not use “the pandemic relief debate to sharpen … party discussion points.”
Schumer continued: “If there are changes in good faith on the other side, we wait for them.”