House Democrats Move Forward On Biden’s $1.9trn Stimulus Package, As All Republicans Vote Against

The United States House Democrats has move forward on President Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus package as all Republicans vote against.

As reported by Forbes, stimulus checks and Covid relief funding are one step closer to going out under President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus proposal, after the House on Wednesday voted to move forward with debate on a budget resolution that could allow for the bill to pass in the Senate without any Republican support.

Key Facts

The stimulus package includes $1,400 checks for many Americans, along with enhanced federal unemployment payments of $400 a week and hundreds of billions of dollars for state and local governments, along with other objectives, like a $15 an hour national minimum wage.

House Democrats pushed through the move to debate a day after the Senate voted 50-49 along party lines to approve the same process.

Democrats plan to use the reconciliation process, allowing them to pass the stimulus package by a simple majority in the Senate rather than having to court support from Republicans under normal rules that would require 60 votes in the chamber to close debate.

Republicans have expressed objections to the cost and expense of the proposal while conservative Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia has also expressed serious reservations that the stimulus checks will go to higher-income Americans who don’t need them—putting Democrats in a perilous position where losing just a single Senate Democrat’s support would mean the effort failing.

Surprising Fact

Manchin has emerged as a central figure in the stimulus negotiation process, repeatedly saying that Democrats going it alone is a bad look and calling for the stimulus checks—which under Biden’s plan would begin to phase out for individuals making over $75,000 a year and couples making over $150,000 a year—to be more targeted to lower-income Americans. The White House has signaled it’s not willing to negotiate stimulus checks of less than $1,400, but some Democrats have floated the idea of reducing the income level for full stimulus check eligibility, perhaps to $50,000 a year for single filers. Manchin also does not support raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour.

Key Background

Biden has said he’d like to see Republican support for a stimulus package, but the priority for the White House is to get stimulus funds out quickly. Biden met Monday with a group of 10 Republican senators, who presented a $618 billion stimulus proposal of their own. The package, which cost less than a third of Biden’s proposal, was quickly rejected. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Tuesday that Biden is “totally on board” with using reconciliation to pass the stimulus package.

What To Watch For

The Senate will have a “vote-a-rama” opportunity—allowing for any senator to file an amendment, which must be voted on—during the reconciliation debate.