Friday, February 5, 2021

Senate Passes President Biden’s $1.9 Trillion "Stimulus" Plan

Senate lawmakers gave their support to President Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus package just before sunrise this morning.

Vice President Kamala Harris cast her first tiebreaking vote, and the Senate adopted the resolution along party lines, 51-50, at about 5:30 a.m.

The adoption allows the Senate to proceed toward a final bill under the budget reconciliation rules, which would let the Dems pass a coronavirus stimulus plan by circumventing a GOP filibuster if their caucus remains united.

The only good news is that the jobs killing $15 per hour federal minimum wage was not approved.

By a voice vote, senators backed an amendment from Senator Joni Ernst, Republican of Iowa, to “prohibit the increase of the federal minimum wage during a global pandemic.” At least one Democrat, in the 50-50 split Democrat-Republican senate,  Senator Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, is on record opposing the hike. He was the hero this morning.

But the economically challenged in understanding Senator Bernie Sanders said “We need to end the crisis of starvation wages in Iowa and around the United States.”  He added that he planned to try to get the phased-in wage increase included in a budget reconciliation bill that would allow Biden’s stimulus plan to circumvent the Senate’s 60-vote filibuster rule.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi said during the debate that Democrats would not give up on trying to raise the wage to $15 an hour even outside the stimulus measure.

“It’s not the last bill we’ll pass,” Pelosi said. “This is the rescue package.”

Minimum wage laws kill jobs, the higher the minimum wage, the more jobs killed.

-RW

3 comments:

  1. 51-50 will be used often, and the symbolism is utterly divine.

    "5150 refers to the California law code for the temporary, involuntary psychiatric commitment of individuals who present a danger to themselves or others due to signs of mental illness. It has been more generally applied to people who are considered threateningly unstable or “crazy.”

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    1. Great observation. I'm going to quote you when posting this.

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  2. reamins a mystery why republicans in Georgia allowed this split to exist?

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