Schumer: ‘We’ll have the votes’ to pass $1.9 trillion COVID-19 bill; vote could come this week

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said the Senate will move forward as soon as Wednesday on President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill and pledged, “We’ll have the votes we need to pass the bill.”

Schumer’s comments at a press conference Tuesday came even as moderate Senate Democrats maneuvered to limit some of the expenditures in the bill, over objections from liberals who insisted they had already made concessions.

Biden urged Senate Democrats on a private lunchtime call Tuesday to stay united behind the bill, arguing it’s broadly popular with the public, according to two Democrats who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said he hoped that “in the end Senate Republicans will unanimously oppose it, just like House Republicans did” when the legislation passed the House on Saturday with no GOP votes.

“This is a wildly expensive proposal largely unrelated to the problem,” McConnell said. “We think this package should have been negotiated on a bipartisan basis . ... Instead, the new administration made a conscious decision to jam us.”

With the Senate split 50-50 between Democrats and Republicans, that means Democrats can succeed only if they stay united and Vice President Kamala Harris breaks the tie.

Democrats and the Biden administration want to complete the legislation ahead of a March 14 deadline when emergency unemployment benefits will expire for millions of Americans unless Congress acts to extend them.

If the Senate takes an initial procedural vote to open debate on the bill on Wednesday, final passage could come at the end of the week, following a lengthy amendment process. The legislation would then likely need to go back to the House for final passage.