House Democrats voted to circumvent Republicans and start passing Biden's $1.9 trillion stimulus package on their own

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Joseph Zeballos-Roig
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nancy pelosi
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sanitizes the gavel after Vice President Mike Pence walked off the dais during a joint session of Congress to certify the 2020 Electoral College results on January 6, 2021 in Washington, DC. Erin Schaff-Pool/Getty Images

  • House Democrats voted to advance a budget bill, which sets the stage for Biden's stimulus package to pass in a party-line vote.

  • Biden met with Democrats earlier in the day and they doubled down on their intent to move swiftly.

  • "There's agreement, universal agreement we must go big and bold," Schumer said.

  • Visit the Business section of Insider for more stories.

House Democrats on Wednesday approved a measure to enact President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion emergency spending package on a party-line vote without Republican support.

The vote to approve the budget resolution passed 218-212. Two Democratic lawmakers opposed it along with every GOP lawmaker.

The passage of the budget bill in the House sets the stage for the Senate to take up the same piece of legislation later this week. It's the first step in the reconciliation process, a maneuver that opens special procedures in the Senate that allow bills to pass with a simple majority vote.

Once the pair of bills are approved, committees in each chamber can begin drafting legislation around Biden's rescue plan. Before the vote, Democrats said it was critical to pass the resolution at a fraught moment during the pandemic with hardship on the rise and daily infection rates still at extremely high levels.

Rep. Don Beyer of Virginia, chair of the Joint Economic Committee, commended the bill and said it will "set us on a path to defeating the virus and providing urgent relief for millions of Americans."

But Republicans assailed the measure and said it undercut Biden's promises to govern as a bipartisan dealmaker. Most are staunchly opposed to spending a $2 trillion sum after lawmakers approved $4 trillion in emergency spending last year.

Rep. Jason Smith of Missouri, the ranking Republican on the House Budget Committee, said Democrats "apparently now need a more one-sided approach, one which is much more partisan and bends the rules to radicalize this Congress and the policies it produces."

A group of 10 Senate Republicans unveiled a $618 billion coronavirus relief plan earlier this week. But Democrats roundly lambasted it as insufficient to address the worsening toll of the pandemic.

On Wednesday, Biden met with Democratic senators in the White House to discuss his proposed relief package. It includes provisions such as a fresh wave of $1,400 stimulus checks, $400 federal unemployment benefits, vaccine distribution funds, and aid for states and cities.

"There's agreement, universal agreement we must go big and bold," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said after the meeting in the Oval Office. They doubled down on their goal to act swiftly and said they would still try to get Republican votes.

"I think we'll get some Republicans," Biden said.

There are signs the president is open to adjusting some components of the relief package without shrinking its large price tag. Biden told House Democrats earlier on Wednesday he was willing to negotiate the threshold of stimulus checks in his plan.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki also said the administration was receptive to tightening eligibility for a third federal payment.

"Further targeting means not the size of the check, it means the income level of people who receive the check," she said at a press conference. "That's something that is under discussion."

Democrats are in the early stages of drafting a plan in which only individuals earning $50,000 and below qualify for a full $1,400 check, along with couples making $100,000 and under.

Still, some Democrats are urging the White House against scaling back the eligibility of Americans for a third federal payment. Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, chair of the Senate Finance Committee, argued the stimulus checks served a critical role lifting many people out of poverty and helping them make ends meet.

"I understand the desire to ensure those most in need receive checks, but families who received the first two checks will be counting on a third check to pay the bills," he said in a statement to Insider.

Democrats face significant hurdles to fashion Biden's proposal into law. Every Democratic senator must be in favor of the package given their narrow majority in the chamber, setting up a razor-thin margin of error. They only control the evenly-divided Senate because Vice President Kamala Harris casts the tie-breaking vote.

The support of Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, a conservative Democrat, will be critical. In an MSNBC interview, he expressed support for the price tag of the Biden rescue package.

"If it's $1.9 trillion, so be it. If it's a little smaller than that and we find a targeted need, then that's what we're going to do," Manchin said. "But I want it to be bipartisan. If they think we're going to throw all caution to the wind and just shove it down people's throats, that's not going to happen."

Read the original article on Business Insider

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