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The U.S. Senate has postponed the opening debate on President Biden’s $ 1.9 trillion aid package as a result of the pandemic. After reaching an agreement to eliminate the $ 1,400 payment for higher-income Americans, senators decided not to vote Wednesday but could open the debate on Thursday.
The Democrat-controlled Senate hopes to finally put the proposal to a vote this week. The bill is one of President Biden’s priorities. But before opening the debate, Democrats are negotiating ways to soften Republican opposition that calls the proposal excessive and costly.
The Senate will convene on Thursday at noon, said Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin, the number two Democrat in this House. Officials did not respond to a request from Reuters for comment on whether security concerns that forced lawmakers to cancel Thursday’s session in the House of Representatives could also affect the Senate agenda.
Democrats in the Senate said the economic stimulus proposal in response to the problems created by the pandemic, which would not offer $ 1,400 payments to Americans making at least $ 80,000 a year, or couples earning at least $ 160,000 year, was good choice.
Previously, in the Democrat-controlled version of the House of Representatives, the ceiling level was $ 100,000 for individuals and $ 200,000 for couples. Senator Joe Manchin, a center-right Democrat, told reporters: “I’m very pleased with the discussions and some of the changes we have agreed on.” But he said the fate of a change he has sought to increase unemployment assistance from $ 300 to $ 400 a week remains unknown.
The 50-50 split Senate will consider in the coming days a motion for a 20-hour debate on this massive bill. The vote on the motion would signal the resistance Republicans are expected to put up against the bill itself. The incentive package includes funds to intensify the vaccination campaign, to increase unemployment assistance as well as to help with a payment family and businesses as well as the state and community structure. Democrats aim to finalize the bill as soon as possible so that it can be sent to the president for signature before March 14, when some of the aid expires.
Republicans, led by Senate leader Mitch McConnell, have criticized the bill. On Wednesday, Mr McConnell called the proposal “a huge catalog of spending on liberal causes” and a party dish with “borrowed money” filled with “absurd clauses” unrelated to the coronavirus pandemic, which so far has caused the deaths of over 517,000 Americans and left millions jobless.
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