Senate passes Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID-19 bill on party-line vote

WASHINGTON: The Senate on Saturday (Mar 6) passed President Joe Biden's US$1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief plan in a party-line vote after an all-night session that saw Democrats battling among themselves over jobless aid and the Republican minority failing in attempts to push through some three dozen amendments.

The final bill - one of the largest legislative packages in US history - includes US$400 billion in one-time payments of US$1,400 to most Americans, US$300 a week in extended jobless benefits for the 9.5 million people thrown out of work in the crisis, and US$350 billion in aid to state and local governments that have seen the pandemic blow a hole in their budgets.

The Senate voted 50-49, with no Republicans voting in favor, on what would be one of the largest stimulus packages in US history.

The fight is not over as the bill needs to return to the House of Representatives, which approved a slightly different version a week earlier.

READ: US House tees up US$1.9 trillion COVID-19 plan but wage hike falters

The standoff within the Democratic party over the jobless benefits and the all-night effort by Republicans to amend a bill that polls show is popular with voters illustrated the difficulty that Biden will have in pushing other policies through a Congress that Democrats control by the narrowest of majorities. The bill is a priority for Biden as the country battles a pandemic that has killed more than 520,000 Americans.

The chamber set a record in its longest single vote in the modern era - 11 hours and 50 minutes - as Democrats negotiated a compromise on unemployment benefits to satisfy centrists like Senator Joe Manchin, who often walks a delicate tightrope as a Democrat representing a state, West Virginia, that overwhelmingly supported Republican former President Donald Trump in the November election.

The extended unemployment payments, which are to be paid out on top of state jobless benefits, proved to be the most contentious part of the bill. The House bill had set the supplemental benefit at US$400 a week, but Senate Democrats finally agreed to knock that down to US$300.

READ: US senators scurry to refine Biden's US$1.9 trillion COVID-19 aid ahead of vote

READ: Senate Democrats trim parts of Biden's COVID-19 aid bill, Republicans threaten delay

The House bill also featured a measure to more than double the minimum wage to $15 per hour, which the Senate also rejected.

Moderate Democrats feared that the higher jobless benefits and minimum wage hike would overheat the economy and hurt businesses in rural states.

Senate Democrats used a process called reconciliation to pass the measure with a simple majority rather than the 60 of 100 votes normally required under the chamber's rules.

It was unclear whether Democrats will try to use that maneuver on other policy goals such as legislation dealing with climate change and immigration.

One Republican, Daniel Sullivan of Alaska, left Washington on Friday night for a family funeral, meaning that Democrats did not need Vice President Kamala Harris' tie-breaking vote in the normally 50-50 chamber.

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