House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., Speaks during a press conference calling for the removal of a bust from the Capitol of Chief Justice Roger Taney in Washington on Monday, March 9, 2020.
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Democrats have begun laying the groundwork for the next coronavirus bailout package to be passed without Republican votes as GOP lawmakers criticize the cost of President Joe Biden’s bailout.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., Added votes to the Chamber’s timetable next week that “will give us the opportunity to use the budget vote to push a COVID-19 bailout package,” he said on May 13th Tuesday evening to the legislature. The delicate process would allow Democrats to pass a pandemic relief bill by a simple Senate majority without Republican support.
Hoyer has not specifically said that Democrats will opt for reconciliation as the Biden government is in talks with centrist GOP lawmakers who it hopes will vote in favor of a relief measure. However, the steps taken to set up the process suggest the party has doubts that Republicans will cast the votes in favor of approving a bailout.
The House of Representatives majority leader told lawmakers he could change the schedule again before March 14 to allow time for the renewal of programs to help the unemployed during the pandemic. Both the weekly unemployment benefit supplement of USD 300 per week and the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program will officially expire on that day.
Biden and Democrats have pushed for more money to be poured into the health system and economy, as the virus kills an average of more than 3,000 Americans a day and the country has the largest vaccination effort in history. Biden’s $ 1.9 trillion rescue plan aims to expedite vaccinations and send more money to individuals, small businesses, and state and local governments.
A painting by Abraham Lincoln is seen as U.S. President Joe Biden speaks on the response to Covid-19 in the state dining room of the White House in Washington, DC on January 26, 2021.
Almond Ngan | AFP | Getty Images
Republicans and some Democrats in Congress have questioned the need to spend that much money about a month after a $ 900 billion relief plan went into effect. GOP skeptics have called for a smaller bill based on vaccine distribution funds.
But after a stalled Congressional response in the second half of last year that allowed millions to fall into poverty and exacerbate the worst U.S. hunger crisis in decades, Democrats say Congress cannot over-spend . Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told lawmakers earlier this month, “With interest rates at historic lows, the smartest thing we can do is to trade big.”
Democratic leaders have announced that they will move forward without Republican support.
“If our Republican counterparts choose not to have the necessary, robust, and necessary Covid relief, we must move forward without it. That is not our preference,” said Chuck Schumer, Senate majority leader, DN.Y., on Wednesday.
He added that Congress “shouldn’t repeat the mistakes of 2008 and 2009” when it said lawmakers were “too shy” to respond to the global financial crisis.
On Monday, Biden said the decision to make a reconciliation “will depend on how these negotiations go.” [with Republicans] go. “He said it could take” a few weeks “to know if GOP lawmakers would support a relief plan.
Mitch McConnell, Senate Minority Chairman, R-Ky., Said Monday that the Biden proposal “missed the mark”.
The risks involved in budget reconciliation
Both the Chairman of the House Budgets Committee, John Yarmuth, D-Ky., And the future Chairman of the Senate Budgets Committee, Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Have stated that they are ready to take budgetary decisions that will initiate the reconciliation process would. Sanders has not yet taken control of the panel when Schumer and McConnell attempt to strike a deal that sets rules for a 50:50 Senate.
While it offers the opportunity to pass a bill by a simple majority in the Senate, reconciliation brings its own headache for the Democrats.
The process only applies to bills that change the level of expenditure and income and limits what the legislature can translate into legislation. Democrats may not fit all of their priorities into an end product that conforms to Senate rules.
The party may also need to adjust the invoice to avoid defects. Senator Angus King, an independent Maineer negotiating with Democrats, questioned the cost of the Biden plan after 16 non-partisan senators met with White House officials on Sunday.
Senator Joe Manchin, DW.Va., has called for the $ 1,400 direct payments included in the bill to be tightened. Both Biden and top economic advisor Brian Deese have signaled that they are ready to change eligibility for the next round of control.
The bipartisan House Problem Solvers Caucus also spoke to Deese on Tuesday about an aid bill. While the group’s co-chairs, Reps Josh Gottheimer, DN.J., and Tom Reed, RN.Y., said after the meeting that they wanted to find a bipartisan solution, it was unclear whether any of the 28 Democratic members of the The group agreed to oppose Biden’s plan.
The Senate also faces time constraints when trying to pass an auxiliary law. The second impeachment trial against former President Donald Trump will begin in about two weeks, and Senate leaders have not said how long they will expect it to.
The chamber also intends to confirm other candidates for Biden’s cabinet in the coming weeks.
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