WASHINGTON (AP) – Democrats agreed on Friday to scale back emergency unemployment benefits, but extend them for an additional month, in a bid to bolster support as the Senate approached a voting marathon over a $ COVID-19 emergency. 1.9 trillion.
The deal came as the chamber was working to approve a final version of the massive package, likely over the weekend, from President Joe Biden’s highest legislative priority. That would give the House time to pass the legislation and send it to Biden for signature.
First, the Senate was preparing to vote on a mountain of amendments, mostly by GOP opponents. Virtually all are destined to fail, but they are intended to force Democrats to take politically awkward votes.
However, among them was a Democratic plan that was expected to pass and cut the weekly emergency unemployment benefit of $ 400.
Under the compromise, those payments – payable on top of regular government wages – would be reduced to $ 300, but would last for an additional month through September. Taxes would also be cut on unemployment benefits. A Senate Democratic aide provided details of the deal on condition of anonymity to describe private conversations.
Biden and Senate leaders agreed on Wednesday to keep the higher $ 400 version of the House Law. The cut to $ 300 seemed to indicate a need for support for the general bill, particularly from moderate Democrats.
Republicans are attacking the bill as a liberal spending party that ignores the growing number of vaccinations and signs of a booming economy suggest the twin crises are on the wane.
“Our country is already poised for a resounding recovery,” said Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Senate Minority Leader, referring in part to an unexpectedly strong job creation report. “Democrats inherited a tide that was already turning.”
Democrats reject that, citing the 10 million jobs the economy lost during the pandemic and countless people still struggling to buy food and pay rent.
“If you just look at a lot of them, you say, ‘Oh, everything is getting a little bit better,’” said Senate leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y. ‘It’s not for the bottom half of America. It’s not. “
In an encouraging sign to Biden, a poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that 70% of Americans support his response to the pandemic, including a remarkable 44% of Republicans.
Moments after the Senate passed the legislation Thursday, Senator Ron Johnson, R-Wis., Forced the chamberlain to read aloud the full 628-page measure. The tiring task took the staff 10 hours and 44 minutes and ended shortly after 2 a.m. EST, with Johnson alternating between his desk and pacing around the largely empty room.
Democratic leaders have made more than a dozen late additions to their package on Thursday. That reflected their need to gain unanimous support from all of their senators – plus Vice President Kamala Harris’ breakthrough – to succeed in the dangerously divided 50-50 chamber.
The Senate’s 51-50 vote to begin discussing the package, with Harris pushing Democrats over the top, underscored how they navigated the package through Congress with virtually no margin for error. In the Chamber their majority is a meager 10 votes.
The bill, intended to combat the deadly virus and restore the staggered economy, provides for direct payments of up to $ 1,400 for most Americans. There is also money for COVID-19 vaccines and tests, assistance to state and local governments, assistance for schools and the airline industry, tax breaks for lower-income people and families with children, and health insurance grants.
The new provisions offered items attractive to all kinds of Democrats. Progressives received money to boost nutritional programs, federal health care subsidies for workers who lose their jobs, tax-exempt student loans and money for the public broadcaster, and consumer protection studies.
Moderates raised funds for rural health care, language secured minimums for smaller states, and a ban for states from using aid to use the windfall gains to lower taxes. And for everyone there was money for infrastructure, cultural locations, start-ups and after-school programs.
The late changes left House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., The task of keeping her room’s many progressives on board. Liberals already took a hit when their No. 1 priority – a federal minimum wage increase to $ 15 an hour included in the House package – was kicked out of law in the Senate for breaking chamber rules and lacking support from moderates.
In another accord that pleased moderates, Biden and Senate Democrats agreed on Wednesday to tighten suitability for direct controls on individuals. The new provision makes a complete elimination of $ 1,400 payments for individuals earning at least $ 80,000 and couples earning $ 160,000, much lower than the original ceilings.
Congress wants to send the bill to Biden by March 14, when an earlier round of emergency provisions for people thrown out of work by the pandemic ends.
Johnson told reporters that he forced the bill’s reading to “shed light on this insulting and obscene amount. On Friday morning, Schumer praised the staff who worked until late as’ the unsung heroes of this place ‘and said of Johnson,’ I hope he enjoyed his Thursday night. ‘
The economic recovery started to stagnate at the end of last year when the virus emerged, causing staff shortages in recent months. The Department of Labor said on Friday that the economy added 379,000 jobs last month, indicating an unexpected strength as virus cases decline and consumers increase spending, but there is still a long way to go before the country’s job market fully recovers. .
The impartial Congressional Budget Office estimates that economic growth will exceed 4% this year without Biden’s bailout package. Republicans cite that as evidence that the economy is pointing upwards, but Democrats say a strong economic stimulus is still needed to avoid a downturn.
Associated Press writers Josh Boak, Alexandra Jaffe and Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report.