By slimmest of margins, Senate takes up $1.9T relief bill
Source: AP
By ALAN FRAM
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate is beginning debate on a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill, after Democrats made eleventh-hour changes aimed at ensuring they could pull President Joe Biden’s top legislative priority through the precariously divided chamber.
Democrats were hoping for Senate approval of the package before next week, in time for the House to sign off and get the measure to Biden quickly. After the Senate voted by the slimmest of margins Thursday to begin the debate, Democrats were encountering opposition from Republicans arguing that the measure’s massive price tag ignored promising signs that the pandemic and wounded economy were turning around.
Democratic leaders made over a dozen late additions to their package, reflecting their need to cement unanimous support from all their senators — plus Vice President Kamala Harris’ tie-breaking vote — to succeed in the 50-50 chamber. It’s widely expected the Senate will approve the bill and the House will whisk it to Biden for his signature by mid-March, handing him a crucial early legislative victory.
The Senate’s 51-50 vote to start debating the package, with Harris pushing Democrats over the top, underscored how they were navigating the package through Congress with virtually no margin for error. In the House their majority is a scrawny 10 votes.
Vice President Kamala Harris arrives to break the tie on a procedural vote as the Senate works on the Democrats' $1.9 trillion COVID relief package, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, March 4, 2021. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-politics-coronavirus-pandemic-bills-economy-fa965b1b413d811ad10549b3460c6643
