Senate backs Joe Biden's $1.9-trillion aid after Harris breaks the tie

The American Senate endorsed President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus package just before sunrise on Friday, voting along party lines over unified Republican opposition to approve a Budget blueprint that would allow Democrats to enact it with no GOP support.

 

After a 15-hour voting session that stretched overnight, Vice President Kamala Harris arrived early in the morning to the Senate dais, where she cast her first tiebreaking vote. The Senate adopted the Budget measure by a vote of 51 to 50.

 

In the marathon session — known as a vote-a-rama and for which more than 800 amendments were drafted — Senate Democrats maneuvered through a series of politically tricky amendments that Republicans sought to attach to their budget plan.

 

They also endorsed a number of ideas that could drive negotiations on Biden’s stimulus measure, embracing a proposal to exclude high earners from direct payments of up to $1,400 — an idea that the president and leading Democrats have already said they are open to — and the creation of a new form of child allowance for low- and middle-income families. Senators also agreed to bar any increase in the federal minimum wage, a centerpiece of Biden’s plan, during the pandemic.

 

Despite the amendments, the process left Biden’s plan largely intact as Democrats moved forward.

 

“We cannot repeat the mistakes of the past,” said Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader. “We cannot do too little.”

 

The resolution will go next to the House, where Democrats do not require Republican support to approve it, for a final vote expected later Friday. While the measure does not have the force of law, the action paves the way for the next step in the budget reconciliation process, which ultimately would allow Democrats to advance Biden’s plan without Republican votes.

 

Still, the proposal did not pass the Senate without some setbacks for Democrats. In a potential sign of trouble ahead for a major plank of Mr. Biden’s plan, the Senate agreed to a Republican proposal by Senator Joni Ernst, Republican of Iowa, to prohibit any minimum wage increase during the pandemic.