Thursday night’s marathon “vote-a-rama” session resulted in the Senate endorsed President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus package, with Vice President Kamala Harris acting as the tiebreaker at 5:30 a.m on Friday morning. During the 15-hour overnight voting session, over 800 amendments were offered.
Senators voted to delay a minimum wage increase, one of Biden’s main proposals. Biden’s stimulus package proposed raising the minimum wage to $15 by 2025. The rejection came after a proposal by Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) to bar a minimum wage increase during a pandemic. Ernst claimed that “a $15 federal minimum wage would be devastating for our hardest-hit small businesses at a time they can least afford it. We should not have a one-size-fits-all policy set by Washington politicians.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) did not contest Ernst’s amendment, noting that he did not seek to raise the minimum wage during a pandemic. However, he did indicate that he wanted a phased-in wage increase included in the reconciliation bill. A phased-in increase can be approved using a simple-majority vote.
A number of Republican proposals failed to pass in the Senate, including one to block funding for schools that do not conduct in-person classes after teachers are vaccinated. Nonetheless, Democrats approved an amendment from Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Florida) and Rick Scott (R-Florida) to prohibit tax increases for small businesses during the pandemic.
Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter!
A week of political news in your in-box.
We find the news you need to know, so you don't have to.
A new ad about Green Party candidate Jill Stein has been released by Vice President Kamala Harris'…
https://youtu.be/inbJpo6D4BQ Jennifer Lopez, campaigning with Kamala Harris on Oct. 31 in Nevada, said Donald Trump’s…
Former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn declared that the "gates of hell" would be unleashed if former…
https://youtu.be/JQCdk-71tG0 Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris met with the woman who was the first in…
https://youtu.be/xc72fdqkaVc Vice President Kamala Harris vowed to put “country above party and above self” as…
U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon has reportedly been placed on a list of potential attorney general candidates…