Dems Pave Way to Use Reconciliation to Pass COVID-19 Relief

Senate Democrats took a major step Tuesday in advancing toward passing a major $1.9 trillion COVID-19 economic relief and stimulus package by voting to kickstart the process to pass the package via budget reconciliation. This is a congressional maneuver which could avoid a Republican filibuster in the Senate stopping the package from passing, since reconciliation requires only a simple majority to pass in the Senate.

The vote to start the reconciliation process passed the Democratic-controlled Senate 50-49, where every single Democrat voted for the measure and every single Republican (Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania was absent) voted against the measure.

This comes after a group of 10 moderate Republican senators proposed a $600 billion relief bill to counteract President Biden’s $1.9 trillion package, meaning that the GOP proposal is less than one-third the size Democrats had hoped for.

One of the most major differences between the two bills is the generosity of stimulus checks offered. Biden’s proposal would give everyone a $1,400 check in addition to the $600 check offered in a bipartisan package which passed Congress late last year and would include many people, such as dependents over the age of 17 and families with mixed immigration status, which were ineligible for the previous round of stimulus. The GOP proposal, however, would result in over 29 million fewer people receiving their checks, and the size of the checks offered is just $1,000, a total of $400 fewer than Biden’s proposal.

The unemployment benefits in both bills are another key difference. Where Biden plans to spend $350 billion in increasing the federal unemployment bonus up to $400 per week from $300 per week through September, the GOP’s proposal is far slimmer, providing just $132 in provisions. This would extend the benefit of $300 per week through June. There are also various other differences in the amount of money offered to different relief programs.

Even though Biden spent over two hours in a call with the 10 Republican senators, Biden eventually told them that the GOP’s counteroffer was “way too small,” asking Democrats to “go big” in a Democratic caucus call.

Passing a COVID-19 relief bill as significant as this one would be the Democrats’ first major legislative achievement since taking control of the 117th Congress. The very slim 50-50 Senate majority which involves Vice President Kamala Harris casting a tie-breaking vote means that not a single Democrat can vote against the party line.

The Democrats finally got the final vote needed to pass the bill via reconciliation when Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., a conservative Democrat, agreed to vote to move forward on the process. This comes after significant pressure from the party has been placed on Manchin to cooperate with the party and also after West Virginia Republican Gov. Jim Justice, a major Trump supporter, said he backed Biden’s bill. However, Manchin does not support raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, so that may be a provision that will be cut out in order to get every single Democrat to pass the final bill when it comes. Manchin said in a statement that “because of the urgency of the COVID-19 crisis” he voted to support the bill but “remains hopeful that we can have bipartisan support moving forward.”

Reportedly, the Biden administration is surprised that many Republicans don’t see the political benefits of voting for a large COVID-19 relief bill. Although Biden and Trump don’t agree on much, both had pushed for sending generous stimulus checks to people, seeing both political and practical implications for doing so. Obviously, giving money to people is popular among people, so the fact that Republicans are constantly opposing stimulus deals because they are “too expensive” just to spite Democrats is not particularly wise, even if some Republicans may eventually vote for the final bill in the end. (Voting no on starting the reconciliation process does not mean that a senator cannot choose to vote yes on the final bill when it comes.)

With Manchin now on board, the entire Senate Democratic Caucus is expected to propel the relief package full steam ahead by way of budget reconciliation.

To nobody’s surprise, many Senate Republicans bluntly criticized the Democrats’ decision to push forward, claiming that there should be “more bipartisanship.” (It’s interesting that no Republican was talking about bipartisanship when they were in the majority last year, but expect Senate Democrats to compromise with them. Clearly, Biden knows that bipartisanship is not compulsory since Democrats have the majority, so many Democrats on both sides support the action.)

Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., said that there was “a mandate to move to the middle,” but that it was ultimately up to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, R-Calif., to decide. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., the top Republican on the Senate Budget Committee, said that it would be “unfortunate if we go down this road” to pass a large bill, but again acknowledged that Democrats had the power to use reconciliation if they wished.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., was another big criticizer of the move to use reconciliation. “They’ve chosen a totally partisan path. We’re off to a totally partisan start. I think that’s unfortunate.”

However, the use of reconciliation is not an uncommon tactic to be used to bypass the Senate filibuster. In 2017, when Republicans had a trifecta in the government, they used reconciliation to pass the Trump-sponsored Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

Many Democrats, especially progressives like Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., have been heavily supportive of using reconciliation to pass bills that Republicans wanted to block. Sanders said that Congress had a “responsibility” to help the American people by whatever means necessary, and Warren said she felt “good” that they have “identified what needs to be done and have a plan for getting it done.”

If the Democrats can convince the two more-conservative Democrats, Sens. Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., to back their bills, the Democrats could include many other provisions, such as increasing the minimum wage, in reconciliation, thereby bypassing the filibuster.