In short, there is enough uncertainty before the House and Senate finally have to resolve the differences and agree on any amendments before the measure is sent to Biden’s desk.
“We are working as fast and fast as we can,” said John Yarmuth, chairman of the House Budget (D-Ky.). “We’ll send it to the Senate and see what happens.”
The budget committee begins drafting Monday with a vote to send the package to the House floor, followed by a few more hours in which lawmakers can make largely symbolic proposals, air their grievances or express support for Biden’s plan.
No significant changes to the text are expected, as the members of the Budget panel are unable to make regular changes. The panel’s meeting to put together Biden’s plan comes after nine House committees noted their own portions of the massive benchmark.
Republicans are almost certainly complaining about the proposal to increase the hourly minimum wage to $ 15 billion and $ 350 billion for state and local aid, including in the package. GOP House leaders on Friday issued a whip notice urging them to vote against the bill, arguing that it provides a ‘lifeline’ for blue states and ‘pays people not to work’.
“We are definitely going to be exposed to the wrong plan at the wrong time for all the wrong reasons,” said Representative Jason Smith (R-Mo.), The top Republican in the House Budget Committee. panel formatting can take up to six hours. “We’re going to point out the different items in this legislation that are bad for the working class.”
In the Senate, committees began meeting with an official adviser known as the parliamentarian, who will decide whether certain pieces of Biden’s plan are in violation of the so-called Byrd rule. The rule requires that policies pursued through the budget reconciliation process have a significant impact on federal spending, revenue, and debt policies that would lead to debt increases after the next decade.
One of the biggest questions is whether Biden’s quest to raise the federal minimum wage for the first time since 2009 – a proposal advocated by progressives – will survive budget constraints.
Democratic leaders and the White House have indicated they will make a final decision on how to proceed after the Senate MP decides on the proposal. Home President Nancy Pelosi, even with senior members of her leadership team, has the fascination over the status of talks on the most controversial issues.
But Biden has privately told governors that the wage increase is unlikely to take place as part of his first Covid aid measure. Progressives, such as Senate Budget Chairman Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Insisted the provision would continue, citing recent analysis by the Congressional Budget Office.
Democrats can continue to ignore the parliamentarian if the minimum wage increase does not succeed, but Biden leans heavily against the idea, POLITICO reported earlier this month.
The wage increase remains a progressive question, and liberal leaders maintain that the pandemic relief package is the most viable legislative tool to get it done.
“It is very important to us that this happens in this package because we think it is directly related to Covid relief,” Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), Chairwoman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said. “Given the composition of the Senate, this is our best opportunity and the right moment in the midst of this pandemic.”
Apart from the MP, however, the strategy has met with opposition from moderates in the Senate, with both senses. Joe Manchin (DW.Va.) and Kyrsten Cinema (D-Ariz.) Who declared their opposition to recording the wage increase in Biden’s final. parcel.
Senate Republicans, meanwhile, have criticized the Democrats for pursuing a process that excludes their input after Congress passed five nearly $ 4 billion coronavirus relief bills last year, backed by two parties.
In a letter sent to majority leader Chuck Schumer (DN.Y.) and minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) Earlier this month, Republicans from various Senate committees called for the aid package to go through their panels before reaching the floor. But Democrats are not expected to comply with the request.
Schumer said in a letter Friday that House and Senate committees are coordinating so lawmakers can move the package quickly to Biden’s desk before unemployment benefits expire on March 14.
“If Republicans are willing to work with Democrats on constructive amendments that will improve the bill, we are ready to work,” Schumer wrote. “However, we must not allow Republican obstruction to deter us from our mission to provide assistance to Americans who urgently need this relief.”
Even if Congress passes the package before unemployment benefits expire on March 14, the relief will not be immediate. Administrative and bureaucratic problems will delay the delivery of the most important elements of the aid for weeks or even months.
At the state level, officials say it may not come soon enough.
“We need the help to get our citizens vaccinated,” Iowa Treasurer Michael Fitzgerald said Thursday during a call offered by the law firm Invest in America Action.
“We are 46th in the country when it comes to helping people get vaccinated. There is no excuse for that, “said Fitzgerald. “We need help. We need help right now. ”
Heather Caygle and Marianne LeVine contributed to this report.