One of the President Biden
Joe Biden, Trump State Department appointee arrested in connection with Capitol FireEye riot finds evidence Chinese hackers have been exploiting Microsoft email app flaw since January Biden officials to travel to border amid influx of young migrants LAKEThe biggest selling point on the 2020 campaign trail was that he knows how Washington, and more specifically the Senate, works and can get things done.
Friday night, he delivered supplies as he helped break an eight-hour stalemate between the centrist senator. Joe Manchin
Joseph (Joe) Manchin Overnight: Capitol Police May Ask National Guard to Stay | Biden’s Pentagon Policy Nominee Faces Criticism | Naval Academy Midshipmen Moved to Hotels Progressives Won’t Oppose Bill On Limits On Incentive Controls Senate Votes To Take Over COVID-19 Relief Bill MORE (DW.Va.) and other Democrats on extending unemployment benefits beyond March 14, when they currently expire.
Under the deal, laid-off workers receive $ 300 per week of federal unemployment benefits in addition to their state benefits until September 6. And the first $ 10,200 in unemployment benefits received in 2020 will be tax-free for households with less than $ 150,000 in unemployment benefits. annual income.
Democratic senators say Biden was “very involved” in mediating. They say that Biden, who sat in the Senate from 1973 to 1996, called Manchin directly to ask him to support a compromise proposal backed by the rest of the Democratic caucus.
“President Biden has been very involved, as you would expect him to,” said a Democratic senator familiar with the negotiations.
The senator said both sides had switched back and forth in paper through Friday afternoon, calling the talks “delicate.”
The deal Biden helped extend weekly unemployment benefits to Sept. 6, which is a week longer than the Aug. 29 end date set by the house-passed legislation. But the law passed by the House sets the weekly benefit at $ 400 a week, and progressive House lawmakers are likely to be upset about the cut in benefits.
“The president supports the compromise agreement and is grateful to all the senators who have worked so hard to achieve this result,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement following the announcement of the deal. “It extends supplementary unemployment benefits until September and helps the vast majority of unemployment insurance recipients avoid unexpected tax bills.
Most importantly, this agreement allows us to move forward with the urgently needed US bailout plan, with $ 1,400 emergency checks, funding we need to complete the vaccine rollout, open our schools, help people who suffering from the pandemic, and more, ”she added. .
The deal ends weekly federal unemployment plus-up nearly a month ahead of what the Treasury Senate president says Ron Wyden
Ronald (Ron) Lee Wyden Progressives Won’t Oppose Incentive Control Limits Bill GOP Pulls Out To Postpone COVID-19 Package Overnight Health Care: Biden Condemns Texas, Mississippi For Lifting Coronavirus Restrictions: ‘Neanderthal Thinking’ | Senate panel splits along party lines at Becerra | Over 200,000 sign up for ACA plans during Biden’s special enrollment period MORE (D-Ore.) And Centrist Sen. Tom Carper
Thomas (Tom) Richard CarperBiden to meet with bipartisan lawmakers on infrastructure Five takeaways from dramatic security hearing in the Capitol Democrats worry the Senate will be the graveyard for Biden’s agenda MORE (D-Del.) Had agreed to Friday morning; they wanted to extend weekly federal benefits of $ 300 through Oct. 4.
Now it seems that lawmakers will need to shorten their August hiatus and return to work before Labor Day to keep benefits from expiring in early September.
Democrats thought they had 51 votes to pass the Wyden-Carper on Friday morning, but Manchin derailed that plan around noon by signaling he would vote for a rival Republican amendment sponsored by Sen. Rob Portman
Robert (Rob) Jones PortmanMandel gets Club for Growth nod in Ohio Senate primary Rick Scott caught in the middle of opposing GOP factions Five takeaways from dramatic Capitol security hearing MORE (R-Ohio) to extend the $ 300 per week through July 18 instead of early October.
Unlike the Wyden-Carper deal announced Friday morning, the Portman amendment did not protect unemployment benefits received in 2020 from tax.
A Democratic senator said that “everyone thought there was an agreement” to extend unemployment benefits, but acknowledged “there was a miscommunication” with Manchin.
Manchin declined to comment on Friday night when asked about his conversation with Biden.
Asked why Democratic colleagues were confused about extending unemployment benefits, Manchin said, “I don’t know.”
Republicans on Friday accused Biden of twisting Manchin’s arm, essentially prohibiting him from working with Republicans.
“I believe that’s true,” said Republican Whip of the Senate John Thune
John Randolph ThuneRon Johnson grinds Senate to a halt, annoys many Rick Scott who is in the middle of opposing GOP factions Democrats have made deals to bolster relief for emergency relief MORE (RS.D.).
Republicans say Manchin had already agreed to vote for the rival GOP amendment sponsored by Portman.
The deadlock on how to proceed with unemployment benefits froze the Senate for more than eight hours after the Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer
Chuck Schumer Ron Johnson Forces Reading 628-Page Senate Coronavirus Bill To Floor Senate Panel Splits Along Party Lines Over Becerra House Democrats’ Ambitious Agenda Set To Walk In Senate Block MORE (DN.Y.) left a vote on a minimum wage adjustment, giving him and Biden time to work with Manchin behind the scenes.
Manchin was seen walking into Schumer’s office shortly after 7:15 pm. The Democrats then announced the deal with Manchin shortly before 8 p.m.
Chairman of the Senate Budgets Committee Lindsey Graham
Lindsey Olin Graham Ron Johnson Held Senate To A Halt, Irritating Many Here’s Who Biden Is Now Considering For Budget Chief House Democratic Leaders Back Shalanda Young For OMB After Teeth Withdrawal (RS.C.) accused Biden of breaking his campaign promise to work with Republicans by pressuring Manchin not to vote for the Republican unemployment benefit amendment.
“If President Biden is going to use his time to destroy the dichotomy, it will be two long years here,” he said. ‘I wish someone would call the president and say,’ What’s going on in the United States Senate? What about Joe Manchin and maybe one or two others working with Republicans that makes you want to stop the whole process? ”
Republicans claimed on Friday afternoon that they had enough votes to pass Portman’s amendment with Manchin’s support.
“The problem was that one of these amendments had more than 50 votes and the other amendment less than 50 votes,” said the chairman of the Senate Republican Policy Committee. Roy Blunt
Roy Dean Blunt Top Republican: ‘Outrageous’ To Expand National Guard Deployment In Capitol Five Takeaways From Dramatic Capitol Security Hearing Biden Calls Bipartisan Meeting On Cancer Research MORE (Ma.).
“Democrats have been told, ‘No, you can’t work with Republicans on this amendment,’” he added.
Blunt said the Republican unemployment benefit amendment would have saved $ 100 billion.
Her. John Cornyn
John Cornyn Overnight: Capitol Police May Ask National Guard to Stay | Biden’s Pentagon Policy Nominee Faces Criticism | Naval Academy Midshipmen Moved To Hotels Senators Introduce Bill To Create Technology Partnerships To Compete With Chinese Republicans Blow Pentagon Policy Nominee Over Tweets, Nuclear Deal With Iran MORE (R-Texas) said he heard Manchin had committed to vote for both the Carper-Wyden deal and the Portman proposal.
“It sounded like he was going to vote for Portman and Carper,” he said. “I don’t know how you do that and what takes precedence over the other.
“I’m just shocked that this stuff hadn’t been taken away sooner,” he added.
Manchin declined to comment on the negotiations on Friday until the deal was announced.
He later praised it in a press release as something that would ‘restore the economy quickly’ and protect unemployed workers from ‘being hit by [an] unexpected tax assessment. ”
Republicans say the $ 400-a-week allowance in the House-passed law would discourage laid-off workers from returning to the labor force.
A key element of the Manchin deal would offset the cost of forgetting unemployment benefits taxes by extending a cap on the tax breaks that businesses can take on operating losses.
The deal would extend by one year the requirement that companies spread their claimed deductions over net operating losses. It was a major reward in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act 2017 temporarily suspended by the CARES Act passed by Congress a year ago.
Updated: 9:52 PM