Vice President Kamala Harris and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen are holding a virtual roundtable with black business leaders from across the country on Friday to discuss the American Rescue Plan, after President Joe Biden defended it in comments on White House.
Earlier in the day, the Senate passed a budget resolution – a key step for Democratic-controlled Congress to pass the $ 1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief proposal known as the American Rescue Plan with no Republican vote.
How to Watch Harris and Yellen Hold a Roundtable with Black Business Leaders
- What: Harris and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen hold a virtual roundtable with participants from local Black Chambers of Commerce across the country on the American Rescue Plan.
- Meeting: Friday, February 5, 2021
- Time: 3 pm ET
- Location: Virtual
- Stream online: Live on CBSN in the player above and on your mobile streaming device
“They are not willing to go as far as we need to,” said Biden of Republicans in Congress. “What the Republicans have proposed is to do nothing or not do enough.”
Harris cast a tie vote when he passed the budget resolution at around 5:30 am, after a long vote for dozens of amendments. Passing the resolution was an important step in the process known as budgetary reconciliation, which allows legislation to pass the Senate with just a simple majority, rather than the typical 60-vote limit. The Chamber passed the budget resolution earlier this week.
Biden pledged to provide direct checks for $ 1,400 in his proposal, although he indicated that he was willing to “direct” those checks so that people with a higher income would not receive them. He said the economic need was great and that approving a small proposal would not be enough to help suffering Americans.
“The biggest risk is not going too big. It is if we are too small,” said Biden.
Now that the two houses of Congress have passed the budget resolution, which serves as a vehicle for legislation, committees can begin to formulate a reconciliation project on their own. The final reconciliation project will receive 20 hours of debate, and then another “vote-a-rama” before a vote in both chambers.
The final proposal passed in Congress may not be as big as Biden’s initial $ 1.9 trillion plan. An amendment passed during the vote-a-rama on Friday morning rejected an important component of the Biden plan: raising the federal minimum wage to $ 15 an hour. In a verbal vote, senators narrowly approved an amendment by Iowa Republican Joni Ernst that would ban the increase during a pandemic. The increase can be restored when the final measure is eliminated.
Meanwhile, Biden continues talking to a group of 10 Republican senators who have proposed a $ 600 billion aid plan. On Thursday, the group sent a letter to Mr. Biden questioning the size of the president’s proposal, and encouraged the White House to continue bipartisan negotiations, even as the budget reconciliation process moves forward.