WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats reached agreement Friday to reduce the federal unemployment insurance payment in the COVID-19 bill from $400 to $300 per week and extend the length of the program from the end of August through the end of September, according to a Democratic aide not authorized to speak publicly.
The amendment, from Delaware Sen. Thomas R. Carper, would also exempt $10,200 in unemployment insurance from taxes “to prevent surprise bills for unemployed at the end of year,” according to the aide.
The change would keep the new federal unemployment insurance plus-up equal to the level approved in the last pandemic aid package, which is set to expire on March 14.
The change was announced shortly after senators began debating the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 package on Friday — one year to the day after that chamber passed the first $8.3 billion pandemic relief package.
Debate on the bill is much more partisan than on previous relief packages with Republicans overwhelmingly opposed to its total spending level as well as provisions they argue are not directly related to vaccine distribution or school reopening.
In an attempt to delay action, Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., on Thursday forced the clerks to read the 628-page bill on the floor.
Johnson, however, was not on the floor to object when Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., asked for unanimous consent for the Senate to begin debating the bill at 9 a.m. on Friday. The chamber moved on to amendment votes shortly after 11 a.m.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Friday morning he believes just 9% of the package addresses “the fight against the virus itself” and only 1% is geared toward vaccine research and distribution. The Kentucky Republican said his colleagues “have many ideas to improve the bill.”
“And we’re about to vote on all kinds of amendments with hopes that some of the ideas make it into the final product,” he said.
GOP senators filed more than 160 amendments to change the package as of Friday morning and are expected to request votes on a substantial number of them as the Senate progresses through its marathon amendment voting session known as vote-a-rama.
Many of the amendments offered were unlikely to get the Democratic support needed to significantly alter the package, though Republicans are expected to put forward a few that address issues more moderate Democratic senators like West Virginia’s Joe Manchin III and Arizona’s Kyrsten Sinema might vote to change.
Any substantial changes to the package could endanger its prospects for final passage in the House where the package passed by a vote of 219-212 on Feb. 27.
Democrats will need to keep the support of both progressive and moderate House members if the package has any chance of making it to President Joe Biden’s desk.
The vast majority of House Democrats are waiting to see what the bill looks like once the Senate passes it.
Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., said Wednesday that she wants to hear a concrete plan for approving a minimum wage increase.
“We’ve got to figure out what the plan is for minimum wage. And it can’t be weakened,” she said.
Senate Budget Chairman Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., offered an amendment to add the minimum wage increase back to the package, though that’s unlikely to get the level of support needed.
Biden’s COVID-19 relief proposal and the House bill included a provision to increase the minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to $15 an hour in 2025. That was removed from the Senate’s bill after the parliamentarian determined it would violate the rules that govern the reconciliation process.
That fast-track legislative tool is how Democrats are advancing the relief package without running headlong into the Senate’s legislative filibuster, which requires that at least 60 senators support a bill in order for it to advance to a vote on passage.
Speaking on the Senate floor on Friday morning, Sanders urged his colleagues to support his amendment as well as the package as a whole. “In my view this legislation is the most consequential and significant legislation for working families that Congress has debated for many, many decades,” he said.
Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., told senators to prepare for a lengthy amendment process, saying “the Senate is going to take a lot of votes, but we are going to power through and finish this bill however long it takes.”
