As the Wuhan coronavirus peters out and states start removing demonstrably useless mask and capacity mandates, the Senate passes an anti-American version of the pork-laden “Pelosi Payoff” bill on a party-line vote.
The Senate on Saturday passed President Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill on a party-line vote, ending a marathon session lasting nearly 26 hours.The measure passed 50-49 at 12:25 p.m. in the evenly divided chamber due to the absence of one Republican, Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan, who flew home Friday after the death of his father-in-law.Sullivan’s departure meant there was no need for Vice President Kamala Harris to cast a tie-breaker vote to gain the Democratic victory.“This Senate has never spent $2 trillion dollars in a more haphazard way,” Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said afterwards. “Voters picked a president who promised unity and bipartisanship, but the Democrats have passed what they call the most progressive legislation in a generation on a razor-thin margin.”No Republicans broke ranks to help Democrats pass the bill, despite days of speculation that moderates like Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski might do so.
The vote was a critical early test of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s ability to keep all 50 Democrats unified behind a major piece of legislation despite being an ideologically and regionally diverse caucus.
“From the beginning, we said this: We had to pass this legislation,” Schumer told reporters. “We made a promise to the American people that we were going to deliver the real relief they needed. And now we have fulfilled that promise.”
He added: “I was confident from the get-go. I just told that to the president that when he called me. And I said, I knew we would get this done.”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., blasted Democrats for taking a partisan approach and argued that they would not deserve credit for the economic recovery.
“The Senate has never spent $2 trillion in a more haphazard or less rigorous way,” he said. “Democrats inherited a tide that is already turning.”
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