In short, there is a lot of uncertainty in reaching the House and the Senate must resolve any differences and agree to any amendments before the measure is sent to Biden’s desk.
“We are working as quickly and expeditiously as possible,” said House Budget President John Yarmuth (D-Ky.). “Let’s send it to the Senate and see what happens.”
The Budget Committee will start marking Monday with a vote to send the package to the House floor, followed by several other hours during which lawmakers can offer broadly symbolic motions, voice their complaints or express support for Biden’s plan.
No substantial changes to the text are expected, as members of the Budget panel cannot offer regular amendments. The panel meeting to put together Biden’s plan comes after nine House committees have marked their own portions of the massive measure.
Republicans are almost certain to complain about the proposal to raise the hourly minimum wage to $ 15 and $ 350 billion for state and local aid, among other parts of the package. Republican Party leaders circulated a notice on Friday urging its members to vote against the bill, arguing that it provides “a ransom” for the blue states and pays “people not to work”.
“We are definitely going to expose how this is the wrong plan, at the wrong time for all the wrong reasons,” said Rep. Jason Smith (R-Mo.), The Republican in the House Budget Committee ranking, which predicted the appointment of the panel it can last up to six hours. “We will point out all the different items of this legislation that are bad for the working class.”
In the Senate, committees have started meeting with an official adviser known as a parliamentarian, who will decide whether certain parts of Biden’s plan go against the so-called Byrd Rule. This rule requires that policies passed through the budget reconciliation process have a significant effect on federal spending, revenues and debt policies and barriers that would lead to an increase in debt beyond the next decade.
One of the biggest outstanding issues is whether Biden’s pressure to raise the federal minimum wage for the first time since 2009 – a proposal advocated by progressives – will survive budget constraints.
Democratic leaders and the White House have indicated they will make a final decision on how to proceed after the Senate parliamentarian approves the proposal. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been discreet, even with senior members of her leadership team, about the status of negotiations on the most controversial issues.
But Biden in particular signaled to governors that the pay hike is probably not happening as part of his first Covid aid measure. Progressives, like Senate budget president Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Have insisted that the provision will survive, citing recent analysis by the Congressional Budget Office as evidence.
Democrats can go ahead by rejecting the congressman if the minimum wage increase is not approved, but Biden is leaning strongly against the idea, POLITICO said earlier this month.
Still, wage increases remain one of the main progressive demands, and liberal leaders insist that the pandemic aid package is the most viable legislative vehicle this year to do so.
“It is very important for us that this happens in this package because we think it is directly related to Covid’s relief,” said Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), President of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. “Given the composition of the Senate, this is our best opportunity and the right time in the midst of this pandemic.”
The parliamentarian aside, however, the strategy met resistance from the moderates in the Senate, with both Sens. Joe Manchin (DW.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) Declaring their opposition to the inclusion of the salary increase in the final Biden package.
Meanwhile, Senate Republicans have criticized Democrats for following a process that excludes their contributions after Congress passed five coronavirus relief bills last year, totaling nearly $ 4 trillion, with bipartisan support.
In a letter sent earlier this month to majority leader Chuck Schumer (DN.Y.) and minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Republicans on various Senate committees requested that the aid package pass through their panels before reaching the floor. But Democrats are not expected to comply with that request.
Schumer said in a letter on Friday that House and Senate committees are coordinating so that lawmakers can quickly move the package to Biden’s desk before unemployment insurance expires on March 14.
“If Republicans are ready to work with Democrats on constructive amendments that will improve the bill, we are ready to work,” wrote Schumer. “However, we must not allow Republican obstructionism to stop us from our mission to bring aid to Americans who desperately need that relief.”
Even if Congress passes the package before unemployment insurance expires on March 14, relief will not be immediate. Administrative and bureaucratic difficulties will delay delivery of key aid elements for weeks or even months.
At the state level, officials say this will not happen soon.
“We need help to help our citizens get vaccinated,” Iowa State treasurer Michael Fitzgerald said on Thursday during a call from the advocacy group Invest in America Action.
“We are the 46th in the country when it comes to helping people get vaccinated. There is no excuse for that, ”said Fitzgerald. “We need help. We need help now.”
Heather Caygle and Marianne LeVine contributed to this report.