Vox Sentences - Vote-a-rama

The Covid-19 relief bill is in its final stretch before Senate passage; vaccine tensions are brewing between Italy and Australia.

Tonight's Sentences was written by Gabby Birenbaum.

• The Senate begins debate today over Democrats’ $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief bill in a drawn-out process known as a “vote-a-rama,” in which Republicans will introduce dozens of amendments that will test the Democratic caucus’s ability to stick together. [CBS News / Grace Segers]
• The hours-long process will likely not culminate until sometime Saturday, at which a point will be taken on the package. After that, the bill will be sent back to the House, because the version the House originally passed was slightly different — for example, it included a $15 minimum wage provision that the Senate parliamentarian struck down. [Politico / Caitlin Emma, Marianne Levine, and Burgess Everett]
• Republicans have already taken steps to make the bill’s passage as excruciating as possible. At Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI)’s request, the Senate clerks spent over 10 hours reading all 628 pages of the bill from yesterday afternoon into the early morning today, a step that is usually skipped to save time. [Vox / Li Zhou]
• Johnson said Republicans have 100 amendments they are planning to introduce. If Republicans stick together, the defection of just one Democrat would allow one of their amendments to be included in the bill. [CNN / Kristin Wilson]
• No Senate Republicans are expected to vote for the bill, objecting to the $350 billion for state and local governments, an increase of the child tax credit, greater unemployment benefits, and apparent outrage at Biden’s lack of Republican inclusion in working on the bill, though their opposition to the price tag practically guaranteed there was little meaningful middle ground to be found. [USA Today / Savannah Behrmann]
• Democrats also made some last-minute changes to the bill before debate began on Friday. A new amendment from Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE) would lower unemployment payments from $400 to $300 weekly, but would make the first $10,200 in unemployment benefits non-taxable and would extend the provision through September instead of August. [Politico / Caitlin Emma, Marianne Levine, and Burgess Everett]
• The vote-a-rama does force senators to clarify their stances on potentially politically fraught issues. Multiple Democrats ended up voting against an amendment to allow the $15 minimum wage provision in the bill. [Twitter / Andrew Prokop]
• The relief package vote comes at a time when millions of Americans are still struggling. But February’s employment report showed positive signs for the economy — 379,000 jobs were added last month, mostly in the leisure and hospitality sectors. But unemployment still stands at 6.2 percent and the US still has 9.5 million fewer jobs today than at this time last year. [NYT / Patricia Cohen]