The bill we expect to see in the next several hours will look different than what the House passed, even if many of the most popular provisions and structures will remain untouched. That’s a reflection of the herculean task Democratic leadership and the White House have had to undertake in recent days as they’ve hustled to try and ensure that ever Democratic senator had what they needed tucked inside to back this bill. It also means the bill will have to go back to the House for another vote next week before sending it to President Joe Biden’s desk.
As we’ve said before, failure isn’t an option here. Democrats can’t go onto the field and sink Biden’s first big legislative option — a bill that most Democrats agree is badly needed even if they have individual gripes about specific provisions. As Biden said to the House Democrats last night, the point here is to remember the big picture. That’s been the message from Schumer as his caucus heads into a lengthy vote-a-rama, that’s been the message from the President and his staff and that’s what Senate Democrats have been telling each other.
They’ll get there, but the massive effort to get this bill to the finish line, which included multiple meetings with the President, around-the-clock paper trading with White House legislative affairs and even a series of conversations with Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowksi about what her state of Alaska is dealing with amid the pandemic should not be overlooked. This was an all-hands-on-deck effort and if the bill passes, it shouldn’t be read as just a symptom of Democrats in lockstep.
We know of a few big ways the Senate bill will look different than what the House passed.
The bill won’t include:
- An increase to a $15-an-hour minimum wage.
- Funding for the bridge from upstate New York to Canada
- Money for the extension of the railway system outside of San Francisco
The bill will also change:
- The income threshold for who is eligible to get Covid relief checks will be different. Once an…
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