WASHINGTON (AP) – Senate leaders and moderate Democratic Senator Joe Manchin reached an agreement on unemployment benefits late Friday, breaking a nine-hour log that halted the party’s $ 1.9 billion COVID-19 relief bill has.
The compromise, announced by the West Virginia legislature and a Democratic assistant, apparently paved the way for the Senate to begin a climate series, which is expected to lead to the adoption of the comprehensive legislation.
The overall bill, President Joe Biden’s highest legislative priority, is aimed at fighting the killer pandemic and restoring the stagnant economy. It would provide direct payments of up to $ 1400 to most Americans and money for COVID-19 vaccines and tests, state and local government assistance, aid to schools and the airline industry, and medical insurance subsidies.
While the Senate faced subsequent votes on a heap of amendments likely to take place overnight, the Democratic leaders’ agreement with Manchin suggested it was only a matter of time until the House passed the bill. This will send it back to the House, which is expected to give final congressional approval and submit it to Biden for his signature.
But the prolonged absence of the day also highlighted the headaches faced by party leaders over the next two years as they tried to shift their agenda through Congress with their slim majorities.
Manchin is arguably the most conservative Democrat in the House, and a kingmaker in a 50-50 Senate that leaves his party without a vote. With the small majority of Democrats – they have a mere lead of ten votes – the party needs its vote, but can not tilt too far in the center without losing progressive support.
With 10 million fewer jobs since the pandemic took place a year ago, the help of unemployed Americans is a top democratic priority. But it is also a problem that is driving a gap between progressive people who want to help unemployed voters tackle the gloomy economy, and Manchin and other moderates who want to reduce part of the cost of the bill.
“People in the country are currently hurting, with less than two weeks after improved unemployment contracts were cut,” Biden said in the White House, referring to the end of March 14 to the current round of emergency benefits without work. He calls his account a “necessary lifeline to gain the upper hand” against the pandemic.
The package faces a solid wall of GOP opposition, and Republicans use the impasse of unemployment to accuse Biden of refusing to compromise with them.
“You can pick up the phone and end it now,” said sen. Lindsey Graham, RS.C., said about Biden.
The House version of the legal aid bill yielded up to $ 400 a week in unemployment benefits – in addition to regular government payments. Manchin hoped to reduce costs, claiming that the level of pay would discourage people from returning to work.
When the day began, Democrats claimed they had reached a compromise between party moderates and progressives that extended their unemployment benefits to $ 300 weekly until early October. The plan, sponsored by Senator Tom Carper, D-Del., Also includes tax cuts on some unemployment benefits.
But by noon, lawmakers said Manchin was ready to support a less generous Republican version. This led to hours of talks involving White House staffers, top Senate Democrats and Manchin, while the party tried to find a way to save its package for unemployment assistance.
The compromise announced Friday night will yield $ 300 a week, with the final check to be paid on September 6, and include the tax break on the benefits.
Before the drama about unemployment benefits began, senators voted 58-42 to kill a thriving top priority, a gradual increase in the current minimum wage from $ 7.25 per hour to $ 15 over five years.
Eight Democrats voted against the proposal, suggesting that Senator Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., And other progressives who promise to continue in the coming months will wage a tough fight.
But eight hours after the minimum wage call began, it has not yet been formally brought to an end, as all Senate work has stopped while Democrats have struggled to solve their unemployment benefit problem.
The next step is a mountain of amendments, mostly by GOP opponents, almost all of which are destined to fail, but designed to force Democrats to take politically awkward votes.
Republicans say the overall bill is a liberal feast that ignores the growing number of vaccinations and signs of a troubled economy suggesting the twin crises are easing.
“Our country is already ready for a roaring recovery,” said Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Senate minority leader, in part, citing an unexpectedly strong report on job creation. “Democrats have inherited a tide that has already turned.”
Democrats reject it, citing the 10 million jobs the economy lost during the pandemic, and many are still struggling to buy food and pay rent.
“If you just look at a large number, you say, ‘Oh, everything’s getting a little better,'” Chuck Schumer, leader of Senate Majority, DN.Y. “It’s not for the lower half of America. It is not. “
In an encouraging sign for Biden, a poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that 70% of Americans support its handling of the pandemic, including a significant 44% of Republicans.
Friday’s network barrier on unemployment benefits was not the first delay. On Thursday, Senator Ron Johnson, R-Wis., Forced the clerks of the chamber to read out the entire 628-page emergency relief bill, an exhausting task that took staff 10 hours and 44 minutes and ended shortly after 2 p.m. has.
Democrats made many other late amendments to the bill, aimed at sharpening support. It ranged from extra money for food programs and federal health care subsidies for workers losing jobs to rural health and language funds that ensure the minimum amounts of money for smaller states.
In another late bargain that satisfied moderates, Biden and the Senate Democrats on Wednesday agreed that some higher-income earners would not be eligible for direct control of individuals.