Biden signals moving without GOP on Covid-19 relief bill
US President Joe Biden has signaled moving forward with a $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief bill even without an agreement with the Senate Republicans.
In a message to the Democratic senators on Tuesday during a conference call, Biden clearly asked them “to go big and move fast on a Covid-19 relief bill.”
This came a day after Biden held a meeting with a group of 10 Republican senators, leaving the GOP leaders with the impression that he might be looking for a partisan relief package.
“President Biden spoke about the need for Congress to respond boldly and quickly. He was very strong in emphasizing the need for a big, bold package. He said that he told Senate Republicans that the $600 billion that they proposed was way too small,” Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer told reporters after the meeting.
Biden needs all 50 members of his party in the Senate to pass the budget resolution. But, Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin announced on Tuesday that, like the Republicans, he does not support raising the federal minimum wage to $15, the centerpiece of Biden’s plan.
Although he later voted to advance the resolution, he warned that any relief bill that passes under budget reconciliation rules to avoid a filibuster must be targeted and have substantial input from Republican colleagues.
“I will vote to move forward with the budget process because we must address the urgency of the Covid-19 crisis. But let me be clear — these are words I shared with President Biden — our focus must be on the Covid-19 crisis and Americans who have been most impacted by this pandemic,” Manchin said in a statement.
The struggles over the economic stimulus package comes as millions of unemployed Americans are still waiting to receive government aid during the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to a projection by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), it will take the US economy until 2030 to restore its jobs lost to the pandemic, and return the unemployment rate to pre-Covid levels.
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