Voting Along Party Lines, Senate Democrats Pass Biden s $1.9 Trillion COVID-19 Relief Plan
The Bill, which passed with the support of every Democrat but no Republicans, gives Biden his first major legislative victory since taking office in January.
A man makes his way past the US Capitol on the day the House of Representatives is expected to vote on legislation to provide $1.9 trillion in new coronavirus relief in Washington, US, February 26, 2021. Photo: Reuters/Kevin Lamarque
World07/Mar/2021
Washington: The US Senate on Saturday passed President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief plan in a party-line vote after an all-night session that was delayed repeatedly as the Republican minority tried but failed to push through around three dozen amendments.
Editorial: Voting rights under assault across the U.S.
March 7, 2021
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Voters had to wait two to three hours at this Atlanta polling place in June 2020.John Spink / Atlanta Journal-Constitution / TNS
In a U.S. Supreme Court hearing last week, a lawyer for the Democratic National Committee observed that “more voting restrictions have been enacted over the last decade than at any point since the end of Jim Crow,” a reference to the laws in the late 19th and early 20th century designed to enforce racial segregation.
“The last three months have seen an even greater uptick in proposed voting restrictions, many aimed squarely at the minority groups whose participation Congress intended to protect,” said Democratic attorney Bruce Spiva, arguing to overturn two Arizona laws that invalidated ballots cast in the wrong precinct and prohibited the collection of early ballots for delivery to polling places.
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Three Democratic lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives unveiled a wide-ranging climate bill on Tuesday that embraces President Joe Biden’s goals to curb climate change including decarbonizing the electric grid by 2035.
FILE PHOTO: A wind farm is shown in Movave, California, U.S., November 8, 2019. REUTERS/Mike Blake/
Introduced by Representatives Frank Pallone, Paul Tonko and Bobby Rush, and incorporating input from the Biden administration, the bill includes a federal clean electricity standard requiring a percentage of retail power sales to come from sources that produce little or no carbon emissions.
The Climate Leadership and Environmental Action for our Nation’s Future Act, or CLEAN, requires 80% clean electricity by 2030 and 100% by 2035.
U.S. Senate Democrats have reached a deal on jobless assistance, a sticking point for the coronavirus relief bill under consideration in the chamber, and will offer an amendment to extend the assistance through Sept. 6 at $300 per week, an aide said on Friday.
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer predicted on Saturday that the House of Representatives will approve the Senate-passed version of a COVID-19 relief bill and President Joe Biden will sign it by March 14, when enhanced federal unemployment benefits expire.