This advance made Democrats ready to move forward with Biden’s project as quickly as possible. Biden urged the party to “swallow” the provisions it dislikes during a virtual lunch on Tuesday, according to a Senate Democrat. Moderate senators could offer their $ 300 weekly proposal as an amendment later this week, while Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) Said he plans to force a vote on a minimum wage of $ 15 an hour.
The disagreement over unemployment insurance was not a big enough problem to make the party’s pressure to pass the $ 1.9 trillion pandemic bill quickly swift, or even delay.
These Democrats said they expected a relatively smooth process as they rush to finish the bill before the March 14 expiration of some increased unemployment benefits. The Senate hopes to send its version of the legislation back to the House well ahead of that deadline, in order to give states an initial advantage in the logistics of extending these benefits.
Schumer took procedural steps to put legislation passed by the House into practice, although the Senate will replace it in its own text before ending the vote. Among the things that the Senate will withdraw from the House bill: the increase of the minimum wage of US $ 15, in addition to several transport projects, all discarded by the non-partisan parliamentarian of the Senate.
Senate Democrats need all 50 of their members to start considering the bill, a vote expected on Wednesday afternoon. After that, the chamber will plunge into a long debate and end with a series of vote amendments that can last for hours, known as “vote-a-rama”.
Senate Republicans are debating how painful it is to make things for Democrats, possibly dragging the marathon of unlimited amendments overnight. This would probably happen on Thursday night and would happen on Friday morning.
“I am waiting for the infinite. There are people talking about trying to set a schedule and keep it going indefinitely, ”said Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.).
Paul said some in his party want to push the debate well after Thursday and continue adding amendments until Friday, while he suggested to Schumer to spread the pain over two days.