What the Senate voted on in marathon COVID-19 relief ‘vote-a-rama’

WASHINGTON (NewsNation Now) — Thursday night into the early hours of Friday morning, U.S. Senate Democrats advanced President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief plan through the passage of a budget resolution, as they voted on a series of amendments in a marathon “vote-a-rama” session.

The U.S. House of Representatives will take up final approval on Friday of a budget measure called reconciliation that would let Democrats push the relief package through Congress in coming weeks without Republican support.

The planned House vote will come hours after the Senate narrowly approved an amended version of the budget plan, at the end of an overnight debate that featured votes on dozens of proposed amendments.

During the 15-hour session, the Senate approved a series of amendments to the budget outline and the House must now vote again to approve the Senate changes. Shortly before the final vote, Democrats reversed three earlier votes Republicans had won.

None of the passed amendments are binding and do not carry the force of law in a budget blueprint. They are prescriptive and serve as guidelines, like the budget resolution itself, which instructs committees to get to work writing COVID-19 legislation. But Republicans seized the chance to get lawmakers on the record on contentious issues, and ultimately won some of them. Here are several of their proposals:

NO COVID-19 FUNDS FOR SCHOOLS THAT DO NOT REOPEN AFTER TEACHERS VACCINATED

Senators Roy Blunt and Tim Scott wanted to withhold additional funding from schools that do not reopen for in-person learning after teachers have had the chance to get a COVID-19 vaccine. Their motion failed by the narrowest of margins, with 50 senators voting for and 50 against, short of a majority.

Schools across the United States are struggling with when to reopen after having largely shifted to remote learning during the pandemic. In Chicago, where teachers have not been vaccinated yet, the teachers’ union is resisting reopening.

PROHIBIT STIMULUS CHECKS TO ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS

Senators Todd Young and Tom Cotton favor prohibiting any direct stimulus payments, such as the $1,400 checks Biden proposed, from being distributed to illegal immigrants. Their amendment passed on a bipartisan vote of 58-42, but was later reversed by Democrats.

Posts on social media claimed that illegal immigrants got such checks previously, but only Americans with Social Security numbers could receive the aid.

NO TAX INCREASES ON SMALL BUSINESSES DURING THE PANDEMIC

Senators Marco Rubio, James Lankford and Scott proposed an amendment to protect small businesses from tax increases during the pandemic. Their motion passed unanimously, 100-0.

“There are no taxes on small business in this proposal,” Senator Bernie Sanders said ahead of the vote, referring to Biden’s COVID-19 relief plan.

Biden wants to raise taxes on people with incomes over $400,000 a year, but it is unclear whether some small businesses organized as sole proprietorships could be caught up in such a tax increase.

RELIEVE MOBILE AND REMOTE PANDEMIC WORKERS OF EXTRA TAX BILLS

Senator John Thune’s proposal would ensure that medical professionals who traveled across the country to help fight the pandemic do not face increased state income tax bills because they worked in a state other than their ordinary place of employment. Thune’s own state of South Dakota does not have a state income tax. The Senate agreed to his proposal on a voice vote.

HELP SCHOOLS THAT LOSE REVENUE FROM OIL AND GAS LEASING MORATORIUM

Senator John Barrasso won approval, by a vote of 98-2, for a fund that would support elementary and secondary schools in states that lose revenue because of a federal moratorium on oil and natural gas leasing on public lands and offshore waters.

PROTECT HYDRAULIC FRACKING IN THE UNITED STATES

Senator Mike Braun’s amendment, approved 57-43, aims to discourage the Biden administration from prohibiting hydraulic fracking to help extract oil and natural gas from underground. Biden has said that he does not intend to ban the practice as part of his drive to move the nation away from fossil fuels. Democrats later overturned the amendment.

IMPROVE U.S.-CANADA RELATIONS WITH KEYSTONE PIPELINE

Senator Steve Daines won some symbolic support for the troubled Keystone XL pipeline project that would pump oil sands crude from Alberta, Canada, to Nebraska. By a vote of 52-48, the Senate went on record as wanting to improve U.S.-Canada relations with regard to the pipeline. Democrats later reversed it.

Biden formally revoked the permit for the project in one of his earliest acts as president.

NO RAPID MINIMUM WAGE INCREASE

Senator Joni Ernst argued that more than doubling the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour during a pandemic would be ruinous. Her amendment to block Democrats from doing so won unanimously after Senate Budget Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders said Democrats aim to raise the wage gradually, over five years.

What it means for COVID-19 relief

It was required that Senate Democrats pass a budget resolution to unlock a legislative tool called reconciliation, which would allow them to approve Biden’s proposal in the narrowly divided chamber with a simple majority. The House of Representatives approved the budget measure on Wednesday.

Most legislation must get at least 60 votes in the 100-seat Senate to pass. But the chamber is divided 50-50 and Republicans oppose the Democratic president’s proposal. Reconciliation would allow the Senate’s 48 Democrats and two independents to approve the relief package with a tie-breaking vote from Vice President Kamala Harris.

Senate Democrats and the Biden administration have left the door open to Republican participation but have said they want comprehensive legislation to move quickly to address a pandemic that has killed more than 450,000 Americans and left millions jobless.

Earlier this week, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said new growth forecasts from the Congressional Budget Office showed the United States “desperately” needs Congress to act on President Joe Biden’s coronavirus rescue package.

“Last year, the economy shrunk more than any other since the end of World War II. With the growth that the CBO projects, it will be years before the country reaches full employment again,” Yellen said in a statement, issued after speaking with Senate Democrats on Tuesday about Biden’s proposed $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan.

The Democrats’ march to add more assistance to last year’s $4 trillion in coronavirus relief could be complicated by the impeachment trial of Republican former President Donald Trump, which is set to begin next week and could distract from the legislation.

Once adopted, the budget resolution would provide spending instructions to House and Senate committees charged with crafting COVID-19 relief legislation, which is likely to take weeks.

Congress would then take up the bill for passage under the reconciliation tool. Democrats say they are determined to pass the legislation before enhanced unemployment payments expire in mid-March.

The reconciliation measure does not require the president’s signature to take effect. If the Senate passes it without amendments, it will take effect immediately. If any amendments pass, the package would return to the House, which would need to vote on it again.

In a show of bipartisanship, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer pledged that consideration of the budget resolution would be open to amendments from both parties in the process known informally as a “vote-a-rama.”

Ahead of the overnight session, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, decried what he called “this phony partisan budget,” saying Republicans planned to offer amendments to reverse the “job killing” cancellation of the Keystone pipeline and block a higher minimum wage, stimulus checks for illegal immigrants and tax hikes on businesses during the pandemic.

Reporting by David Morgan, Susan Cornwell, Richard Cowan and Susan Heavey; Editing by Scott Malone, Peter Cooney, Mary Milliken, Larry King, Jonathan Oatis and Sonya Hepinstall.

Reuters contributed to this report.