On Friday, the Senate unexpectedly interrupted consideration of President Biden’s $ 1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill after Senator Joe Manchin (D-WVa.) Exerted his extraordinary influence in a debate on unemployment insurance.
Manchin supports lowering a federal weekly supplement to $ 300, below $ 400 for the House approved version. But there are dubious proposals as to whether the supplement should expire in July or September.
The issue derailed the Senate’s plans to start a “raw vote” on amendments to the bill on Friday afternoon and cast doubt on plans for a weekend vote on the final draft of the package, which must be approved by few or no Republican votes.
Senator Mitt Romney (R-Utah) told reporters on Capitol Hill that Democrats must make concessions to Manchin if they want to maintain the unemployment supplement until September, instead of July, as the Republicans propose.
“The answer is, if they need Joe, give him what he needs. And then they say, ‘Maybe Mayor Pelosi won’t take the bill.’ Well, nonsense for that, ”Romney told reporters.
The huge package can be passed by the Senate with an absolute majority under special budget reconciliation rules, but Democrats cannot afford to lose a single vote in the equally divided chamber.
The value and duration of the unemployment supplement emerged as a last-minute point of contention. A supplement approved in December – at $ 300 a week – expires this month.
Senator Lindsey Graham’s office (R-SC) said it intended to hold an afternoon news conference on “Senate Democrats delay polls because Senator Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia) is trying to ensure that someone receiving unemployment insurance do not earn more than someone who gets up and goes to work ”.
Congress approved a weekly supplement of $ 600 in March 2020 as part of the CARES Act to ensure that an increase in the number of unemployed Americans would earn approximately the same amount of money if they were temporarily unemployed.
But as the pandemic unfolded, many conservatives said that providing too much money would create an incentive not to work because, in some states, the total amount of unemployment insurance would exceed payment before the pandemic.
The Senate version of the bill has already undergone major changes. Biden this week ushered in a steeper phase of $ 1,400 stimulus checks, meaning that people earning more than $ 80,000 a year will not see a penny, compared to a $ 100,000 limit on the House version. . There is an additional check for $ 1,400 for each dependent child.
The Senate congressman also eliminated some provisions that Republicans and some center Democrats opposed, including a federal minimum wage of $ 15 and $ 140 million for a rail project near the California district, by Mayor Nancy Pelosi.
The project contains $ 350 billion in state and local aid and $ 75 billion for vaccination, testing and other pandemic medical supplies.
Republicans say the bill is unnecessary and wasteful, noting that many of the funds will not be spent until the pandemic is over. The project contains $ 129 billion for K-12 schools, but the Congressional Budget Office estimates that about 95% will not be spent in 2021 because the funds approved for schools last year were not spent.
For parents, the bill authorizes an annual tax credit of $ 3,600 per child under 6 and $ 3,000 per child under 17. These funds are also eliminated for winners over $ 75,000 or joint registrars over $ 150,000. A family of four earning less than $ 150,000 can deposit more than $ 14,000 into the account, according to an analysis by CNBC.