It's 8 o'clock on a Friday night and the House Rules Committee still hasn't sent the Covid-19 relief bill to the floor for a vote. Chairman Jim McGovern is rapidly running out of f@$&s to give, racing through votes on Republican amendments with each one getting rejected.
Rules Committee votes to send Biden's $1.9 trillion Covid relief bill to the House floor.
As Dems finalize the report, @TomColeOK04 asks the chair: "Should I have a short or long cigar?"
He says Cole isn't managing it so it doesn't matter.
Next up: A vote in the full chamber.
219-210, House officially votes to proceed to Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion Covid bill on the floor.
Now: One hour of debate.
Then a final series of votes on the bill.
This is the final House vote on the Covid relief bill. So far, it’s fully party line with two Democrats voting NO: Kurt Schrader (OR) and Jared Golden (ME).
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NEW: Senate parliamentarian rules that Democrats cannot put $15 minimum wage in Covid relief under the reconciliation rules, all but dooming the effort in this legislation. nbcnews.com/politics/congr…
And this is when the filibuster wars seriously begin.
Chuck Schumer is "deeply disappointed." Lindsey Graham is "very pleased." Bernie Sanders is befuddled and calls for using tax deductions to push big corporations to pay at least $15/hr in the Covid package to get around the rules.
NEW: @RepStephMurphy, co-chair of the moderate Blue Dog Coalition, tells @NBCNews the GOP must be kept out of power to save American democracy and national security.
A searing indictment that shows how much the Capitol siege has strained party relations.
Did a wide-ranging interview with Rep. Murphy on the unusual stakes for 2022, how Democrats should govern and her theory for how they can avoid the midterm curse. The political survival of her coalition's members could decide the fight for House control.
So the $15 wage is in Biden’s Covid relief bill headed to the House floor next week. But he’s predicting it won’t survive. Why? He says it’ll likely get stripped out in the Senate under the “Byrd rule” that limits reconciliation to budget changes, i.e. spending and taxes.
Bernie Sanders, the Budget Committee chairman, and Chuck Schumer disagree. They’re crafting a case to the parliamentarian that it should be allowed. But there’s a decent chance she disagrees. nbcnews.com/politics/congr…
NEW: Democrats introduce a sweeping bill to remake the US immigration system, backed by Joe Biden. It includes a path to citizenship for "Dreamers" and others here illegally, eliminates hurdles for legal immigration and replaces "alien" with "noncitizen."
On immigration, Speaker Pelosi says Democrats have discussed a piecemeal approach as well as potentially using reconciliation to bypass a Senate filibuster.
"How it happens through the legislative process remains to be seen. But it is a priority."