The Senate went through a long series of votes on Thursday and Friday, with Democrats rejecting most of the theoretically unlimited series of amendments to its budget resolution. “The resistance race known as ‘vote-a-rama’ is an established tradition of the reconciliation process – the budget tool that Democrats are likely to use to accelerate the approval of [President] The $ 1.9 trillion Biden coronavirus relief plan without any GOP support “, Political explains.
Most of the raw vote involved “Republicans forcing Democrats to vote tedious and uncomfortable on a variety of issues while Democrats inflicted maximum pain by dragging legislative torment,” Political reports. But some amendments were approved with bipartisan support. By verbal vote, for example, senators passed an amendment by Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) to “prohibit raising the federal minimum wage during a global pandemic.” Raising the minimum wage to $ 15 an hour is one of the heavy changes to Biden’s proposal.
“A federal minimum wage of $ 15 would be devastating for our small businesses hardest hit when they can least afford to pay,” argued Ernst in the Senate floor. The measure’s biggest advocate, Budget Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Shrugged and shrugged, noting that his plan increased the minimum wage in five years, starting after the pandemic. “We need to end the hunger wage crisis in Iowa and around the United States,” he said, adding that he “will do everything he can” to ensure that the measure “is included in this reconciliation project.”
The increase in the minimum wage can be blocked by other factors: Senator Joe Manchin (DW.Va.) is opposed and may conflict with the limits of the so-called Byrd Rule on what can be included in reconciliation projects. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) Said that if she doesn’t pass this bill, Democrats will include it in other legislation.
The Senate also passed amendments to maintain the United States Israeli embassy in Jerusalem, prevent undocumented immigrants from receiving direct stimulus checks and – by 99 votes in favor – restrict Biden’s $ 1,400 checks from going to “high-income taxpayers” . That proposal, by Manchin and Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine), did not specify any income limits, and Biden’s proposal already includes phasing out checks for families up to $ 300,000 a year. Congress and the White House are negotiating phasing out and cutoff points, and Biden will meet with Democratic leaders and committee chairs on Friday morning to discuss the COVID-19 relief bill.
More stories from theweek.com
5 hard-hitting caricatures about the problem of Marjorie Taylor Greene of the GOP
Kenyan woman finds a way to recycle plastic waste on bricks that are stronger than concrete
Tom Brady reads nasty pre-Super Bowl tweets about his chin, his game and his dog to Jimmy Kimmel