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- The White House Biden said Thursday it was not breaking its $ 1.9 trillion stimulus package into parts.
- “We are not trying to split the package,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters.
- Democrats are preparing to launch the reconciliation process next week, a move to pass the GOP’s plan without votes.
- Visit the Business Insider homepage for more stories.
The Biden administration on Thursday ruled out splitting its $ 1.9 trillion coronavirus relief plan in half, increasing the odds that Democrats will pass their package by majority vote online using reconciliation.
“I just want to take this opportunity to be perfectly clear: we are not trying to split the package. This is not a White House proposal,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said, at a press conference. “This is not where we focus or where our intention is.”
Psaki said the White House did not want to force lawmakers to prioritize one measure over the other, like getting kids back to school or providing additional federal assistance to families struggling to pay for the food.
“We are not going to do this in a piecemeal fashion or pull apart a big package meant to solve the crisis we are facing,” she said.
The remarks come as bipartisan negotiations continue and Democrats prepare the ground to start the reconciliation process next week. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Democrats in her chamber were preparing to vote on the resolution, the first step in the process.
“By the end of the week, we’ll be done with the budget resolution, which will focus on reconciliation if we need it,” Pelosi said at his weekly press conference. The Senate is also expected to vote on one of them during the same period.
The budget procedure only requires a simple majority in the Senate, which could be an obstacle since the 50 Democrats are expected to support the back-up plan in the reconciliation process. Vice President Kamala Harris holds the deciding vote in the chamber.
President Joe Biden’s $ 1.9 trillion emergency spending package includes provisions for $ 1,400 stimulus checks, improved unemployment insurance, larger child tax credit and help to governments state and local.
It also includes a minimum wage of $ 15, a measure that may not go through strict budget rules governing reconciliation. This item, along with its high price tag, sparked intense Republican opposition.
“I don’t think the administration drafted a bill that they thought would be a huge bipartisan success,” Kansas Republican Senator Jerry Moran told reporters on Capitol Hill.
Still, Democrats have expressed confidence that they could embark on a legislative maneuver that could end up taking time as the economy signals. On Thursday, the Labor Department reported that about 847,000 people filed for unemployment last week, a level that still exceeds the worst of the Great Recession a decade ago.
“We have to do it all together. It all goes together,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut told reporters on Capitol Hill. “I have zero tolerance for delays.”
West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin on Thursday avoided questions of whether he supported the budget resolution, which instructs committees to begin drafting legislation for Biden’s plan. The conservative Democrat has repeatedly told reporters, “We are going to make Joe Biden succeed.”
Progressive Democrats are pushing the Biden administration on a massive rescue plan as talks with Republicans continue. A group of 54 progressive House Democrats sent a letter to the White House urging it to consider recurring direct payments for the relief program.
Representative Ro Khanna of California, a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus who signed the letter, said in an interview that the Biden proposal was a “strong opening offer” and Democrats should avoid weakening him to get votes. of the GOP.
“Susan Collins was not elected president,” Khanna told Insider. “All the president put in was his plan that he ran on, that he campaigned on, that he won the primary on, that he won the general election on – that was part of the story. -form of the Democratic Party. “
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