McConnell to force Democrats to vote on paying for illegal immigrants, funding schools that refuse to open

Senate Republicans are expected to force Democrats to vote on a variety of potentially uncomfortable topics in the coming days, taking advantage of the rules of the budget reconciliation process Democrats are using to advance President Biden’s coronavirus stimulus package while bypassing a filibuster.

Debate on the budget resolution, which began on Wednesday, will continue in the Senate on Thursday. After that deadline, Senate Minority Whip John Thune, RS.D. predicted that this would happen soon after lunch – a process called vote-a-rama begins.

Meanwhile, any senator has the right to table an amendment to the resolution, which could result in dozens of votes on various provisions late at night and even early on Friday morning.

Republicans strongly oppose Democrats using reconciliation to advance the coronavirus stimulus and therefore plan to use vote-a-rama as a way to punish Democrats, extracting a pound of flesh by forcing them to uncomfortable votes.

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“The new president talks a lot about unity, but his White House staff and Congressional leadership are working from the opposite playbook,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. About the budget reconciliation process. “We will discuss the facts … Senate Republicans will be ready and waiting with a host of amendments to improve the rushed procedural step that is being blocked.”

He added: “We will ask senators to officially declare whether taxpayers should fund checks for illegal immigrants … whether Democrats should raise taxes on small businesses amid this historic crisis … and whether any funding Generous federal funds should be poured into school districts where unions refuse to leave schools open. And that’s just a taste. “

In fact, within minutes of McConnell’s speech, Senator Josh Hawley. R-Mo., Introduced an amendment that would oppose federal funding of schools that do not bring children back to classrooms.

“Despite overwhelming evidence that schools can safely reopen, partisan supporters are using children’s education as a stick to push their radical agendas,” Hawley said in a statement along with the amendment. “The effect on working class children and families has been absolutely devastating. The federal government should end this two tier education system for the haves and have nots by pushing schools to reopen safely.

Senator Steve Daines, R-Mont., Meanwhile announced that he was leading seven amendments for the reconciliation process and co-sponsoring three.

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Among them are amendments that call for rescinding the president’s decision to cancel the Keystone XL pipeline; resume leasing of oil and gas on federal lands; stopping any tax increases while the pandemic is still ongoing; prevent the US government from using taxpayer dollars to implement the Paris Climate Agreement; and more.

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., Meanwhile, said in a statement that he would introduce amendments to support funding for the US nuclear weapons program; oppose taxpayer funding to be used for abortion internationally and in national non-profit organizations; prevent illegal immigrants from using health care options supported by the US government; and support maintaining the number of Supreme Court justices at nine.

“Republicans are happy to work with Democrats to bring COVID-19 relief to the American people, but we cannot and will not support a bill that redirects funds to long-standing Democratic priorities,” said Cotton. “My amendments are intended to ensure that the American people – not the far left policies of the Senate Democrats – are protected.”

Not all the amendments introduced will benefit from a full vote in the a rama vote. And some may be dropped from what’s known as the Byrd Rule – a rule that says anything passed during budget reconciliation must have to do with the federal budget in some way.

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But the wide array of amendments Republican senators said they would bring forward on Wednesday indicates that they plan to make the budget reconciliation process as painful as possible for Democrats. Republicans decried the decision to invoke reconciliation as a partisan ploy to avoid working with them on coronavirus relief.

The reopening of schools is possibly one of the hottest topics in the reconciliation debate, which Republicans seem to have deemed a winning question for them. Not only did McConnell spend most of his speech on Wednesday criticizing Democrats and unions over the slow reopening of schools, but Sen. John Cornyn of R-Texas also delivered a speech on the issue.

The White House reiterated to Fox News on Tuesday that it is committed to keeping its promise to bring children into classrooms during Biden’s first 100 days, despite union pressure slowing his efforts during the two first few weeks.

Democrats, meanwhile, accused Republicans of holding money that could go to schools to help them open in person, as well as money for local governments and other sectors of the economy that they say they are essential.

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“A safe learning environment also means personal protective equipment,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. “Barriers like those we see in restaurants and other public places – plexiglass and others types of dividers. And this type of essential equipment is why we are advocating $ 130 billion for our schools. “

Republicans say a lot of federal money has already been used to help schools reopen and that this only constitutes “shifting the goals.” But Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, DNY, told the Senate on Wednesday that more needed to be done.

“The $ 1.9 trillion budget resolution is designed to meet the needs of a country devastated by disease and recession for nearly a year,” he said. Secretary Yellen told the Democratic caucus yesterday that she believes if Congress does not devote the necessary resources to meet the needs of the American people and survive this crisis, we will see long-term scars in our economy, and our country. would. being mired in the COVID crisis for years. “

Jason Donner of Fox News contributed to this report.