Senate advances bill to help Covid-19 Democrats

Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer (D., NY) said the Senate would complete legislation this week “no matter how long it takes”.

All 50 Democrats stayed together in the procedural vote, confirming that the party has come together around the broad aid package, while all 50 Republicans have opposed it. Vice President Kamala Harris broke the tie in favor of the Democrats.

The legislation would send a direct check of $ 1,400 to many Americans, provide $ 350 billion to state and local governments, finance the distribution of vaccines and expand the child tax credit, among other measures.

Democrats are using a legislative procedure called reconciliation, which allows them to pass legislation by a simple majority in the Senate, with the aim of passing it before forms of federal unemployment benefits expire on March 14. Reconciliation also creates the time-consuming change process that could push approval for the project over the weekend.

While the House passed the bill last week, Democrats in the Senate are making a number of changes to it. After it passes the Senate, the House will need to approve the updated version of the bill before going to President Biden for his signature.

Senators reduced the group of Americans who will receive direct payments after a push by a group of centrist Democrats. Individuals earning less than $ 75,000 and couples earning less than $ 150,000 will still receive full payment of $ 1,400, but the payment amount will decrease more quickly for people with higher incomes. The payout will reach zero for individuals who earn $ 80,000 and couples who earn $ 160,000 – a drop from the previous limits of $ 100,000 for individuals and $ 200,000 for couples.

Senate Democrats added a clause that would make much of the forgiveness of student loans exempt from income tax, creating an exception from 2021 to 2025 to the normal rule that canceled debts are receipts.

Democrats in the Senate will remove a measure that raises the minimum wage to $ 15 an hour by 2025 that was in legislation that the House passed. Senate rules limit provisions that lawmakers can pass through reconciliation, and the non-partisan parliamentarian in the chamber concluded that raising the minimum wage could not be included in the relief bill.

Other bill measures that some Democrats have sought to change, including a $ 400 weekly unemployment benefit supplement, are expected to remain the same as they were in House legislation.

In large part, Republicans have lined up to oppose the legislation, considering many of its measures, including aid to state and local governments, as wasteful and unnecessary.

“This has nothing to do with the economy. This is all about just throwing a big pile of money into fiscally irresponsible states, ”said Sen. Pat Toomey (R., Pa.) From state and local aid.

Democrats said legislation was needed to lift the country out of the pandemic, pointing to polls showing its popular support.

“There is tremendous support for these provisions on both sides of the aisle in the country,” said Sen. Ron Wyden (D., Oregon), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.

Among the other changes that Democrats in the Senate are making is increasing the size of health benefits for dismissed workers, covering 100% of the health insurance premiums people pay under Cobra, up from 85% provided in the House.

Democrats also scrambled tax provisions in the bill. They removed a proposal from the House that would have frozen growth in annual pension contribution limits after 2030. They replaced it with stricter limits on corporate deductions for executive pay – but only from 2027.

Senators are also providing $ 8.5 billion to rural health providers and reserving $ 10 billion of state and local aid for infrastructure projects. For state and local aid, senators are demanding that individual states receive at least as much as they did from a previous aid package and allowing governments to use the funds for economic recovery efforts. They are also setting rules on how funds can be used, preventing states from using aid for pensions or to finance tax cuts.

Some centrist Democrats have sought to send a slice of state and local funding to expand access to broadband, but the effort has come up against the limitations of reconciliation, according to people familiar with the matter, preventing them from directing funding too closely. Instead, lawmakers directed the $ 10 billion to infrastructure in general.

—Kristina Peterson contributed to this article.

Write to Andrew Duehren at [email protected] and Richard Rubin at [email protected]