By Alexander Bolton - 02/04/21 06:00 AM EST
Senate parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough will soon play a crucial role in determining whether President Biden’s proposal to increase the minimum wage and other components of his $1.9 trillion relief package make it through Congress.
As legislative referee, MacDonough is tasked with deciding if provisions like raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour are allowed to pass the Senate with a simple-majority vote under a special process known as budget reconciliation.
The parliamentarian will pass judgment on what elements of Biden’s plan comply with the Byrd Rule, which lays out detailed requirements for protecting legislation from filibusters through the reconciliation process.
Senate Democrats move forward on COVID relief without Republican support Christopher Wilson
Democrats in the Senate took the first steps Tuesday toward passing President Biden’s proposed $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill, but negotiations continued on the details of who will receive stimulus checks and how big they will be.
One possible sticking point is whether the relief checks to qualifying recipients will be $2,000, which is the figure Biden and many Democrats campaigned on, or $1,400, which on top of the $600 provided for in an earlier bill brings the total to $2,000.
All 50 Democratic senators voted Tuesday to start the budget reconciliation process, which would allow them if every senator supported the final bill and Vice President Kamala Harris cast the tie-breaking vote to pass the coronavirus relief bill the White House has been promising without any Republican votes. Reconciliation is a tactic for passing bills that have an impact on the federal
Sanders, Warner Tapped to Chair Powerful Senate Committees
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) will chair the Senate Budget Committee while Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) will take the top post for the Senate Intelligence Committee, according to assignments announced Tuesday.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) announced choices for budget chairs and members, a few weeks after Democrats took control of the upper chamber.
Sanders takes over from Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.).
Warner takes over from Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.).
Other chairs include Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) for the Senate Banking Committee, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) for the Senate Finance Committee, and Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Rubio: Relief Money Shouldn’t Go to Schools That Aren’t Open
Schools that won’t reopen amid the COVID-19 pandemic shouldn’t get funding from COVID-19 relief bills, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said this week.
“There shouldn’t be any federal taxpayer money of COVID relief going to schools that aren’t open. The purpose of the money is to open the schools. If the schools aren’t going to open, we shouldn’t send you the money,” Rubio said on “Fox News Primetime.”
Congress has already approved billions of dollars in relief funding to schools. President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion proposal calls for an additional $170 billion for K-12 schools and colleges.
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