The Senate is bracing for a marathon effort and a late night of voting on amendments before lawmakers take a final vote on President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion pandemic relief bill — it’s just not yet clear exactly when that will take place.
A procedural move to advance the bill now seems on track for a vote Thursday, a Senate Democratic aide told CNN, with Democratic leaders still waiting Wednesday evening for the official cost estimate before bringing the newly revised bill to the floor.
Democrats say the legislation is urgently needed to address the continued devastation of the pandemic. Republicans, on the other hand, have denounced the bill as a partisan measure jam-packed with liberal priorities and are signaling they won’t let it advance to a final vote without putting up a fight and dragging out the process.
In addition to forcing a full reading of the bill, which could take 10 hours, Republican Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin has indicated he could take steps to stretch out the timeline for considering the legislation and any amendments offered to it.
“I think that would be a good idea,” he told CNN when asked if he would force a reading of every amendment. “We’re talking about $1.9 trillion … a stack of one billion dollars that would extend halfway past the distance to the moon. And we want to do this in a matter of hours? I don’t think that’s right.”
Republican Sen. Mike Braun of Indiana echoed that sentiment. “There is so much in this bill that needs to be discussed,” he said, adding, “My feeling is that we are going to be investing some time in pointing out what we don’t like about it.”
At some point, the Senate is expected to move into a vote-a-rama, a tradition in the chamber that typically involves a large number of votes on amendments that can stretch for hours and last until late in the night. It is frequently used by lawmakers to force tough votes that put members of the opposing party on the record on controversial issues.
Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin said of the process, “Members start with a great number of amendments and great resolve and eventually it dwindles down to a handful of amendments and no resolve. People just want to get out of here.”
The Illinois Democrat added, “It does not serve the purpose of debate on public policy. It is an endurance contest and a gotcha contest, and I think the Senate should rise to a higher level.”
Tweaks to the bill put Democratic unity to the test
In one of the latest developments related to the legislation, Biden agreed to a compromise with moderate Democrats to narrow the income eligibility for the next round of $1,400 stimulus checks included in the Senate bill, a Democratic source told CNN on Wednesday.
The change has frustrated progressives, however. Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal, a Democratic congresswoman from Washington state, told reporters Wednesday that she needs to look more specifically at what changes the Senate is making to the package. “I don’t like that this is being narrowed. I feel like the survival checks are the easiest, simplest, most popular, populist proposal.”
She added that she’s “looking to see what the whole package looks like.”
Senate and House Democrats are facing their first major test of unity in the new Congress and for the new administration. With an evenly divided Senate, where Vice President Kamala Harris is the tiebreaker, Senate Democrats have no margin for error. The narrow House Democratic majority also leaves little room to maneuver.
Once the Senate passes its version of the bill, it would need to be approved once again by the House before heading to the President’s desk for his signature.
