A significant majority of Republicans support Democrats in Congress using the budget reconciliation process to approve President Joe Biden’s $ 1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package, new research shows.
Democrats have turned to the budgetary reconciliation process to carry out the huge economic stimulus package, after facing Republican opposition at high prices and some Democratic priorities. The process will allow Democrats to pass legislation through the Senate with a small majority, instead of the 60-vote limit generally required due to the rule of legislative obstruction.
In the equally divided Senate, Democrats could approve the package without any support from Republican lawmakers, with Vice President Kamala Harris voting for the tiebreaker.
The new poll The hill and Harris X showed that about 6 out of 10 Republicans approve Democrats using the reconciliation process, even when Republican lawmakers criticize Biden and his Democratic colleagues for moving forward without his approval. Unsurprisingly, 94 percent of Democrats also approve of the reconciliation process and 68 percent of independent voters said they did, too.
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Overall, 67% of respondents said they supported the budget reconciliation process. And only a third (33 percent) said they do not support Democrats who resort to legislative maneuver to approve COVID-19 relief. The survey was conducted from 8 to 9 February and has a margin of error of about 3.2%.
The proposed package includes another round of $ 1,400 direct stimulus checks, increasing current federal unemployment payments from $ 300 a week to $ 400, additional funding for the Salary Protection Program, billions for vaccine distribution and COVID- testing. 19 and significant funds to help schools reopen, among other priorities. The version that will pass the House of Representatives will also include a clause to gradually raise the federal minimum wage to $ 15 an hour by 2025. It is not clear whether this will survive in the Senate and be included in the final legislation.
Although Republicans have expressed concerns about the size of the general proposal, economists generally warn that the biggest risk to the economy is doing too little instead of spending too much. Previous research has shown broad support for new COVID-19 stimuli.
A poll published this week by CBS News / YouGov showed that 83% of Americans are in favor of congressional approval of another pandemic bill. The same poll found that 64 percent of Americans approved of Biden’s response to the crisis.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, said last Friday that the package would be approved later this month.
“Hopefully, in two weeks, we will send something to the Senate and that will be done well before the end of the initiatives,” she noted, adding that lawmakers must “finish our work before the end of February.”