With their budget ceilings established, Congressional committees are set to draft the $1.9 trillion pandemic relief plan over the next few weeks with a vote on the measure expected towards the end of February.
The budget resolution sets out high level spending revenue, and deficit targets for 2021 to 2030, but it also provides the blueprint for the actual stimulus bill to be drafted in various House and Senate committees.
Senate amendments suggest progressives won’t get everything they want. While non-binding, the Senate agreed to amendments against a near-term increase in the minimum wage during the pandemic, which suggests it will be difficult to include a minimum wage increase in the pandemic relief bill.
The Senate also agreed to:
- Expand health savings accounts;
- Create a bipartisan committee to improve Medicare and Social Security trust fund solvency;
- To not provide stimulus checks for “upper income” individuals; and
- Not increase taxes on small business during the pandemic.
Given the absence of any deal with Republicans, Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Schumer said they intend to use the budget reconciliation bill, which only requires 51 votes in the Senate, to provide:
- $1,400 in additional direct payments to individuals;
- Extended pandemic-related unemployment aid through September;
- $350 billion in state, local, tribal, and territorial aid;
- Funding for Covid-19 vaccines, testing, and public health programs;
- Funding to reopen K-12 schools and support child care centers;
- Small business aid, including a dedicated grant program for restaurants; and
- Investments in broadband and other infrastructure.
Questions remain over minimum wage increase: Although the Senate agreed to not increase in the minimum wage in the near term during the pandemic, Sen. Sanders noted his “legislation gradually increases the minimum wage to $15 an hour over a five-year period,” which suggests he may still include it in the next pandemic relief bill. However, any one Democratic senator could disrupt that strategy should they disagree.
