A) The House and Senate still need to sync up on the coronavirus bill before sending the final version to the White House for President Biden to sign.
B) Fox is told it’s not out of the question that House would vote on Senate-alteted COVID bill Tuesday, but it may be more like Wednesday or Thursday.
C) The House Rules Committee (the gateway for most legislation to go to the House floor) may not even tackle this until tomorrow or Wednesday.
D) Fox is told there is not a problem with the bill. But it does take longer for Congressional clerks to “engross” (print the final version) of a reconciliation bill. Reconciliation is the special process Congress used to pass this particular coronavirus bill.
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1) There’s a reason why House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) today announced the House would debate and vote on the altered, coronavirus relief bill on Tuesday when it comes over from the Senate.
It boils down to the math.
2) Shortly after the Senate cleared the COVID bill by a solitary vote today, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) scheduled a procedural vote on the nomination of Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-OH) to be Housing and Urban Development Secretary for Tuesday afternoon
3) Schumer also scheduled Fudge's confirmation vote for Wednesday afternoon.
1) The Senate has been in session for more than 25 hours working on the $1.9 coronavirus relief package. The vote-a-rama technically started yesterday at 11:03 am et. But it really didn’t get underway until after 11 pm last night.
2) We expect the Senate to complete the vote-a-rama soon, perhaps even starting the final vote within the next hour.
3) The Senate is expected to approve the bill on a party line vote, 50-49. Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) is out because his father-in-law passed away. This means Vice President Harris won’t be needed to break the tie.
1) The Hitchhiker’s Guide To the Senate Finishing the COVID Bill
The short answer is that we don’t think there is much of a chance that the Senate takes a final vote on the coronavirus aid package overnight…or even early tomorrow morning after day breaks.
2) Fox is told that Republican senators are insistent on having votes on a multitude of amendments. That likely means this process to finish the COVID bill bleeds well into the day on Saturday if not beyond.
3) After setting a record for the longest roll call vote in Senate history (spanning nearly 12 hours) Friday, the Senate finally returned to the vote-a-rama after 11 pm. The vote-a-rama is where senators cast votes around the clock on amendment after amendment.
A) From the pool. Thune on COVID bill/vote-a-rama: At some point we get back on amendments, we got a lot of people who want to offer them...
B) Thune: All I’m told is that Schumer wants to finish..I don't know if that goes all through the night into tomorrow, or if at some point people play out and everybody feels like they've had their say.
C) Thune: But I know we got a lot of people, a lot of pent-up demand to offer amendments..I think in some ways, our folks are annoyed because they think the Democrats have been dragging this out In an effort to prevent them from being able to offer amendments.
A) It is no surprise that Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) held out for hours tonight to get an agreement on extra unemployment benefits.
After all, the moderate Democrat is arguably the most powerful figure in Washington.
B) Democrats need Manchin's vote to pass any major piece of legislation in a 50/50 Senate. If Manchin walks, that’s it for Senate Democrats. If Manchin walks, that’s it for President Biden.
C) Plus, it works to Manchin’s advantage to go to the mat, gum up the works and hold out – especially so he can show his constituents he prevailed at the end. That’s not to say that the lengthy holdout was just political theatre. But it doesn’t hurt Manchin in these circumstances
A) For the first time in hours, there appears to be a little bit of movement on the COVID bill.
From a Senate Democratic aide:
This is an agreement Democratic leaders secured with Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV).
B) Senate Democrats will offer a plan to extend extra unemployment benefits through September 6 at the rate of $300 a week. The House plan was through August 29 and also called for $400.
C) Also, the first $10,200 of unemployment insurance is untaxable for first time recipients. This avoids a surprise bill. This provision is not in the House bill. It only goes toward households earning less than $150,000.