Sen. Dick Durbin Dick Durbin FBI director set for combative hearing on mob attack No. 2 Senate Democrat shoots down overruling parliamentarian on minimum wage Senate mulls changes to .9 trillion coronavirus bill MORE (Ill.), the No. 2 Senate Democrat, is shooting down calls from progressives to overrule the chamber's parliamentarian and include a minimum wage hike in the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill. Asked about talk of teaming up with Vice President Harris to overrule Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough, Durbin said Democrats should instead look for another piece of legislation to use as a vehicle for trying to increase the minimum wage. “I don’t think that’s going to work. I hope that we think very seriously about dealing with the minimum wage in a different venue," he said. ADVERTISEMENT It's the latest sign that the clean increase of the minimum wage to $15 per hour won't survive the Senate. Because MacDonough advised that it doesn't comply with arcane budget rules that determine what can be included under reconciliation — the process Democrats are using to bypass the 60-vote filibuster in the Senate — Durbin noted it would need 60 votes to stay in the bill, support it doesn't have. After the ruling, House progressives and outside groups have urged Democrats to put Harris in the chair presiding over the Senate and ignore advice from the parliamentarian. But Harris does not have the support of the 50 senators she would need to back her up on such a move, a fact to which the White House alluded Monday. “The decision for the vice president to vote to overrule or to take a step to overrule is not a simple decision. It would also require 50 votes … and the president and the vice president both respect the history of the Senate. They both formerly served in the Senate, and that’s not an action we intend to take," White House press secretary Jen Psaki Jen Psaki Overnight Defense: White House defends not ...
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Senate Democrats negotiating changes to coronavirus bill
Senate Democrats are discussing potential changes to a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package, saying they want to further target the House-passed legislation. A group of Democrats met with President Biden Joe Biden Senate Democrats negotiating changes to coronavirus bill Rural Americans are the future of the clean energy economy — policymakers must to catch up WHO official says it's 'premature' to think pandemic will be over by end of year MORE on Monday to talk about the path forward on the legislation, which is expected to come to a vote on the Senate floor in a matter of days. "We talked about the package and we talked about some ... targeting, targeting dollars," said Sen. Jon Tester Jonathan (Jon) Tester Senate Democrats negotiating changes to coronavirus bill Senate mulls changes to .9 trillion coronavirus bill Democrats hesitant to raise taxes amid pandemic MORE (D-Mont.). ADVERTISEMENT Democrats have no room for error as they try to pass the bill in the Senate. Because no Republicans are expected to support the coronavirus-relief legislation, that means Biden will need all 50 members of the Senate Democratic Conference to support the legislation in order to get it through the chamber. The Senate is already expected to strip out language that would increase the minimum wage to $15 per hour after the chamber's parliamentarian ruled that it doesn't comply with budget rules governing what can be included in reconciliation, the process that Democrats are using to bypass a 60-vote filibuster. But Democrats say they are also looking at other potential changes. Sen. Joe Manchin Joseph (Joe) Manchin Senate Democrats negotiating changes to coronavirus bill Murkowski says no decision after Tanden meeting Ocasio-Cortez: wage only 'socialist' to those in 'dystopian capitalist nightmare' MORE (D-W.Va.), viewed as a key vote, said senators were looking at trying to make sure the ...
Senate Democrats sorting final details of $1.9T virus relief bill
WASHINGTON — Democrats sorted through lingering disagreements over emergency jobless benefits and other issues Tuesday and prepared to commence Senate debate on a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief plan that would deliver a major victory to President Joe Biden. With Democrats having no margin for error in the evenly split 50-50 Senate, Biden was expected to urge them on by conference call. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he planned to bring the sweeping bill to the floor as early as Wednesday, teeing up first votes on a bill aimed at energizing the nation’s battle against the pandemic and its wounded economy. “That’s what the American people sent us here to do,” said Schumer, D-N.Y., “That’s what our government is for. Not to sit back and wait for problems to fix themselves.” The huge package is a too-big-to-fail moment for the fledging president, who would be politically staggered if Congress — controlled narrowly by Democrats but controlled nonetheless — failed to deliver. Conquering the virus that’s killed half a million Americans and thrown the economy and countless lives into tailspins is Biden’s top initial priority. But so far, Republicans are following the template they set in former President Barack Obama’s presidency. GOP senators seemed on track to oppose the relief bill solidly, perhaps with the unanimous “no” vote their House counterparts cast early Saturday when that chamber approved its similar version of the measure. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., accused Democrats of ignoring signs that the economy and the deadly virus’ rampage through the U.S. were beginning to turn around. He also accused Democrats of loading the bill with spending for favored constituencies, saying they were “taking advantage of the crisis to check off unrelated liberal policies.” The Senate bill was expected to largely mirror the House-approved package. Democrats want Congress to send Biden a final version for him to sign by March 14, when an ...
Senate Democrats offer fresh support for embattled Tanden
Senate Democrats on Tuesday made a fresh show of support for President Biden Joe Biden Senate Democrats negotiating changes to coronavirus bill Rural Americans are the future of the clean energy economy — policymakers must to catch up WHO official says it's 'premature' to think pandemic will be over by end of year MORE 's embattled nominee to lead the White House budget office, Neera Tanden Neera Tanden Murkowski says no decision after Tanden meeting The Hill's Morning Report - Presented by Facebook - Trump teases on 2024 run This week: Senate takes up coronavirus relief after minimum wage setback MORE . Tanden's confirmation is on the rocks after Sen. Joe Manchin Joseph (Joe) Manchin Senate Democrats negotiating changes to coronavirus bill Murkowski says no decision after Tanden meeting Ocasio-Cortez: wage only 'socialist' to those in 'dystopian capitalist nightmare' MORE (D-W.Va.) and a slew of centrist Republicans announced they would vote against her confirmation, citing harsh tweets she wrote as head of the Center for American Progress. "The controversy about Neera is largely over her social media comments, which could be leveled at virtually all of us," Sen. Tim Kaine Timothy (Tim) Michael Kaine Warner: White House should 'keep open additional sanctions' against Saudi crown prince Overnight Defense: Biden sends message with Syria airstrike | US intel points to Saudi crown prince in Khashoggi killing | Pentagon launches civilian-led sexual assault commission Biden administration to give Congress full classified briefing on Syria strikes by next week MORE (D-Va.) said at a confirmation hearing for Shalanda Young to be the Office of Management and Budget deputy director. ADVERTISEMENT At her own confirmation hearings, Tanden repeatedly apologized and expressed regrets for tweets that targeted both Republicans and progressive Democrats. Kaine raised the ...
Democrats wrong to attack Senate parliamentarian
With Republican Members of Congress united in opposition to the pending coronavirus relief legislation, Democrats require both an unusual degree of consensus and the special protections of “budget reconciliation” procedures to enact the legislation on their own. Budget reconciliation allows Congress to pass certain kinds of important fiscal legislation with only a simple majority rather than the 60 votes ordinarily required to cut off a filibuster in the Senate. To keep reconciliation procedures from being hijacked to ram through every item on the majority party’s wish-list on which it lacks the votes to end a filibuster, the statute establishing them imposes strict criteria for what provisions are eligible for reconciliation treatment. Democrats have known all along that some provisions they wanted to include in the relief bill might not meet the requirements for budget reconciliation. Chief among these was their proposed stepped increase in the minimum wage to $15 per hour. Superficially, that looks more like a regulatory initiative rather than a fiscal one. Democrats’ hopes were buoyed when the Congressional Budget Office estimated that increasing the minimum wage would cost the federal government a lot of money. This is not because the federal government has a lot of minimum wage workers itself, but rather because CBO believes an increase in the minimum wage would prompt employers to eliminate some low-skilled jobs, reducing those workers’ tax payments and increasing their need for subsistence benefits. ADVERTISEMENT Not just any fiscal impact, however, suffices. Architects of budget reconciliation procedures knew the possible effect of some tax or spending provision in an otherwise unrelated proposal. One could, for example, repeal the Clean Water Act but charge polluters a trivial tax for each ton of sludge they dumped. To guard against this, the statute excludes not just overtly non-fiscal provisions but also those whose fiscal impact is ...
