Dem split on jobless benefits slows relief bill
WASHINGTON —
Democrats laid aside one battle over boosting the minimum wage but promptly descended into another internal fight Friday as the party haltingly tried moving its $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill through the Senate.
Senators seemingly killed progressives’ last-ditch effort to include a federal minimum wage hike in the relief package, which embodies President Joe Biden’s top legislative priority.
They voted 58-42 against the increase, though the vote wasn’t yet formally gaveled to a close. Eight Democrats voted against the proposal, suggesting that Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and other progressives vowing to continue the effort in coming months will face a difficult fight.
But even as Democrats moved past that battle, they lurched into another as a deal they thought they’d reached between progressives and moderates over unemployment benefits threatened to crumble.
Republican senators — in accounts verified by a lobbyist — said Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., was no longer backing a Democratic proposal for a fresh round of emergency jobless benefits. Instead Manchin, probably the Senate’s most conservative Democrat and a potential deal breaker in the 50-50 chamber, was said to prefer a less-generous GOP alternative.
The Senate’s work, including formally ending the minimum wage roll call that started in the morning, jerked to a halt as party leaders mapped how they would move ahead.
“I feel bad for Joe Manchin. I hope the Geneva Convention applies to him,” No. 2 Senate GOP leader John Thune of South Dakota told reporters.
The overall bill, aimed at battling the killer virus and nursing the staggered economy back to health, will provide direct payments of up to $1,400 to most Americans. There’s also money for COVID19 vaccines and testing, aid to state and local governments, help for schools and the airline industry, tax breaks for lower-earners and families with children, and subsidies for health insurance.
The Senate voted 51-50 Thursday to begin debating the legislation, with Vice President
Kamala Harris casting the pivotal tie-breaking vote. That nail-biter and a host of eleventh-hour deals Democratic leaders were cutting with rank-and-file lawmakers reflected the delicate task of moving the measure through the precariously divided 50-50 chamber. The package faces a solid wall of GOP opposition.
Senate approval, considered likely over the weekend, would give the House time to approve the legislation and whisk it to Biden for his signature.
Though the number of Democrats opposing the minimum wage plan was a surprise, its defeat was not. Solid Republican opposition had guaranteed in advance that proponents would fall well short of the 60 votes needed to win. The proposal would boost the federal minimum wage to $15 hourly by 2025, up from its current $7.25.
Democrats next turned to trying to halt the roadblock over unemployment benefits by reaching some accommodation with Manchin. His aides did not return requests for comment.
The House version of the massive relief bill provides $400 weekly emergency unemployment benefits — on top of regular state payments — through August.
But in a compromise with moderates revealed earlier Friday, Senate Democrats said that would be reduced to $300 weekly but extended until early October. The plan, sponsored by Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., would also reduce taxes on unemployment benefits.
Manchin has been a leading voice among moderates trying to rein the relief bill’s costs. But with their scanty majorities — no votes to lose in the Senate and a mere 10-vote House edge — Democrats can’t tilt too far to the center without losing progressive support.