Democrats take new step to fast-tracking Covid relief as Senate 'vote-a-rama' begins

WASHINGTON — Democrats took another step Thursday toward approving a new round of Covid relief by kicking off a “vote-a-rama” in the Senate, a lengthy, but mostly symbolic series of votes on myriad issues.

It comes as President Joe Biden and Democratic leaders coalesce around an effort to pass more aid even without Republican support, forging ahead with a $1.9 trillion package, which includes $1,400 checks.

The vote-a-rama is just one procedural element that will allow Democrats to circumvent the 60-vote threshold for a bill. The process is expected to continue into the early hours of Friday.

The budget resolution is nonbinding, meaning it doesn’t carry the weight of law. The extended series of votes will be on amendments, which will be crafted to test lawmakers’ support for a variety of issues, but won’t affect U.S. policy or law regardless of whether they pass.

In the 50-50 Senate chamber, Democrats are likely to need Vice President Kamala Harris’s vote to break ties on amendments where the parties split evenly.

In the past, the process has been used as an opportunity for the minority party to force the majority to take tough votes that can be used against them politically in the next election.

“The amendment process here today will be bipartisan and it will be open and it will be vigorous,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Thursday in a floor speech before voting began. “Democrats and Republicans alike will have the opportunity to share their ideas, and we welcome that.”

Schumer vowed that Congress will not “think small in the face of big problems.”

“We cannot repeat the mistakes of the past,” he said. “We cannot do too little. We cannot lock our country into a long and slow recovery.”

Republicans said they’re planning to offer amendments to support the Keystone pipeline, bar stimulus payments for immigrants in the U.S. illegally and prohibit Covid-19 funds for schools that don’t reopen after its teachers are vaccinated.

“We’re going to put senators on the record,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. “We’ll see what this resolution looks like on the other side — and what signals Democrats send to the American people along the way.”

source: nbcnews.com