The latest on the Covid-19 stimulus bill

The $1.9 trillion coronavirus package being considered by the Senate contains a wide range of proposals to help Americans still struggling with the economic fallout of the pandemic.

Here’s how Americans could benefit from the Senate bill:

If your family makes less than $160,000 a year: The Senate bill would provide direct payments worth up to $1,400 per person to families earning less than $160,000 a year and individuals earning less than $80,000 a year. The payments will phase out faster than they would have under the House version of the bill, which set the income caps at $200,000 for couples and $100,000 for individuals. That means that not everyone who was eligible for a check earlier will receive one now — but for those who do qualify, the new payments will top up the $600 checks approved in December, bringing recipients to a total of $2,000 apiece.

If you are unemployed: The Senate and House bills both contain the same provisions for the unemployed. Out-of-work Americans would get a federal weekly boost of $400 through Aug. 29. Those enrolled in two key pandemic unemployment programs could also continue receiving benefits until that date. Freelancers, gig workers, independent contractors and certain people affected by the coronavirus could remain in the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program for up to 74 weeks and those whose traditional state benefits run out could receive Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation for 48 weeks.

Who is out of luck? Workers being paid at or just above the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour will not see a boost in pay. The Senate parliamentarian ruled in late February that increasing the hourly threshold to $15 does not meet a strict set of guidelines needed to move forward in the reconciliation process, which would allow Senate Democrats to pass the relief bill with a simple majority and no Republican votes.

If you are hungry: Under both the Senate and House bills, food stamp recipients would see a 15% increase in benefits continue through September, instead of having it expire at the end of June. And families whose children’s schools are closed may be able to receive Pandemic-EBT benefits through the summer if their state opts to continue it. 

If you’re behind on your rent or mortgage: Both bills would send roughly $20 billion to state and local governments to help low-income households cover back rent, rent assistance and utility bills.

If you have children: Most families with minor children could claim a larger child tax credit for 2021, under a provision contained in both the Senate and House bills. Qualifying families could receive a child tax credit of $3,600 for each child under 6 and $3,000 for each one under age 18, up from the current credit of up to $2,000 per child under age 17.

If you own a small business: The bills would provide $15 billion to the Emergency Injury Disaster Loan program, which provides long-term, low-interest loans from the Small Business Administration. Severely impacted small businesses with fewer than 10 workers will be given priority for some of the money.

If you’re sick: If you’re sick, quarantining or caring for an ill loved one or a child whose school is closed, the bills may provide your employer an incentive to offer paid sick and family leave. Unlike Biden’s original proposal, the House and Senate bills would not require employers to offer the benefit. But they do continue to provide tax credits to employers who voluntarily choose to offer the benefit through October 1.

If you need health insurance: More Americans could qualify for heftier federal premium subsidies for Affordable Care Act policies for two years, under both the Senate and House versions of the plan.

As Senate clerks take turns reading portions of the Covid-19 relief bill, Ron Johnson, a Republican from Wisconsin, was the only senator present. 

In fairness, while this is an attention getting effort by Johnson, for other senators they are better served working with their staffs off the floor studying the content of the bill. 

More on Johnson: He is leading the Republican effort against President Biden’s $1.9 trillion Covid relief bill, employing extreme tactics by forcing Senate clerks to read its every word and offering a flood of amendments to highlight its astronomical cost.

CNN’s Manu Raju and Alex Rogers contributed to this report.

Democratic Whip Dick Durbin suggested this afternoon that he may not yet have secured the 50 Democratic votes he needs in order to send the $1.9 trillion stimulus bill to the desk of President Biden without Republican support. 

If no Republican senators support the legislation, Durbin would need the votes of all 48 Democrats, plus the two independents who caucus with Democrats and a tie breaking vote from Vice President Kamala Harris in order to clear the upper chamber. 

So far, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a moderate, is the sole Republican who has indicated she might consider voting for the package.

“In terms of whether or not we can hold it with 50 Democratic members staying loyal to the the very end and the vice president coming in to break the tie, that still remains to be seen,” said Durbin, speaking with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. 

“As a whip, you don’t assume anything until the roll call is made,” he added. 

When Blitzer pressed Durbin on whether he had doubts on the bill’s eventual passage, the Senate’s second most powerful Democrat suggested the vote was far from settled.

“There are active discussions under way,” he said. “We shouldn’t assume the ultimate outcome until it happens.”

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Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski indicated she is still weighing whether to vote in favor of the $1.9 trillion Covid relief bill even though she voted against a procedural motion to begin debate on it.  

She said she has not seen the just-released Senate version of the measure and is still working off the House-passed bill, aspects of which she criticized as “not very beneficial to a state like Alaska that has high revenue loss, low population, and therefore our numbers of unemployed aren’t that impressive.”

Murkowski, who is up for re-election, is considered the only Republican who might vote for the Democratic-authored bill.  

She added she is particularly interested in how the state and local funding in the House bill was changed in the Senate measure and is focused on helping the tourist and seafood sectors in her state, which could be targeted in the amendments she offers to the bill.  

The Senate began a marathon effort to take up President Biden’s $1.9 trillion pandemic relief bill.

Here’s what to know about the process so far, and where things are headed:

CNN’s Tami Luhby and Katie Lobosco contributed reporting to this post. 

Rep. Eric Swalwell, a Democrat from California, this afternoon accused Senate Republicans of pulling a “stunt” by insisting that the entire 628-page stimulus bill be read out loud on the Senate floor. 

GOP Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin objected to dispense the reading of the legislation, so the bill is being read now on the Senate floor by the chamber’s clerk.

“Americans should see the bill,” said Swalwell, speaking on CNN. “That’s why it’s posted online.” 

Swalwell went on to say that the delay would directly hurt Americans who are eagerly awaiting relief.

“Every hour that stunts like this are pulled off is an hour that a hungry person is not fed and an unemployed person is not at work and someone in need of a vaccination like a teacher doesn’t get it,” he said.

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GOP Sen. Ron Johnson objected to dispense the reading of the bill, so the legislation is now being read on the floor by the Senate clerk. It’s 628 pages long.

Aides have said they expect it to take about 10 hours. 

You can follow along and read the full bill below:

The Capitol dome is seen beyond a perimeter security fence illuminated by a red traffic light before sunrise in Washington, Thursday, March 4, 2021. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Related article READ: Senate Democrats' Covid relief bill

The Senate successfully cleared a procedural vote to open debate on the $1.9 trillion Covid relief package. Vice President Kamala Harris cast the tie-breaking vote.

Now, we expect Sen. Ron Johnson, Republican from Wisconsin, will force a full reading of the 628-page bill, which could take about 10 hours.

Senate Democrats have released their version of the Covid relief bill. It’s 628 pages long.

While the bill reflects similar priorities to the House bill and includes many of the same provisions, the Senate legislation differs in a few ways.

Here are some key differences:

Many of the changes in the Senate bill reflect weeks worth of conversations between Senate moderates and the White House with those talks intensifying in recent days.

Democratic moderates fought in the final days of these talks to include more money for broadband and for rural hospitals. The legislation also increased the funding for states that were hard hit by losses in revenue from tourism.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer had a difficult task. He had to win over support of all 50 members of his caucus. In order to pass the bill without Republican votes, he cannot lose a single one.

Read more about the Senate’s bill here.

Alaska GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who has said she has not decided how she’ll vote on the relief package, voted against proceeding to the bill — a clear sign of where she is headed on this measure.

Senate Minority Whip John Thune said earlier Thursday that he didn’t know how Murkowski, who is up for reelection, will vote on the bill, but said he was “hopeful” she’ll stick with Republicans in opposing it. 

President Biden told reporters he was comfortable with limiting direct stimulus payments based on income in his administration’s Covid relief bill Thursday, adding he intended to continue outreach across the aisle in the hopes of getting bipartisan support. 

The Senate is voting now to open the debate on their version of the Covid-19 relief bill.

Biden agreed to a compromise with moderate Democrats to narrow the income eligibility for the next round of $1,400 stimulus checks included in the Senate bill, a Democratic source told CNN on Wednesday.

That means 7 million fewer families will receive a partial payment than would have under the House version of the bill, according to an estimate from the Penn Wharton Budget Model. The new proposal will completely cut off those who earn more than $160,000 a year and individuals who earn more than $80,000 a year.

The House legislation, which passed Saturday, set the income caps at $200,000 for couples and $100,000 for individuals.

On the subject at hand at today’s White House event, Biden pointed to infrastructure as an area for bipartisan cooperation, telling lawmakers, “Infrastructure is, not only creates jobs, but it makes us a whole lot more competitive around the world, if we have the best infrastructure in the world.” 

Biden did not respond to shouted questions from the press pool if his next legislative priority would be an infrastructure package. 

The Senate is voting now to open the debate on their version of the Covid-19 relief bill.

What we know: It requires only 51 votes. Vice President Kamala Harris may be needed to break a tie. 

After they clear this procedural vote, then GOP Sen. Ron Johnson is expected to force a full reading of the bill.

An estimated 11.4 million workers will lose their unemployment benefits between mid-March and mid-April unless Congress passes its next coronavirus relief package quickly, a recent study by The Century Foundation found.

Some senators were looking to make some changes to the House bill, including reducing the federal boost to unemployment benefits to $300 a week and extending the duration of pandemic jobless programs by another month. But these efforts have not progressed.

The House bill calls for extending two key pandemic unemployment programs through August 29. It would also increase the federal weekly boost to $400, from the current $300, and continue it for the same time period.

It would lengthen the duration of the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program to up to 74 weeks, from 50 weeks, and the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation program to 48 weeks, from 24 weeks.

The former provides benefits to freelancers, gig workers, independent contractors and certain people affected by the pandemic, while the latter increases the duration of payments for those in the traditional state unemployment system.

The President’s plan had called for continuing the benefits through the end of September.

Out-of-work Americans will start running out of Pandemic Unemployment Assistance and Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation benefits in mid-March, when provisions in December’s $900 billion relief package begin phasing out.

The $300 enhancement also ends in mid-March.

Read more about what we know about the Senate stimulus bill here.

Senate Republican Whip John Thune says he believes an initial procedural vote to start the budget reconciliation debate could take place in the next hour or so – “we’re told 2ish, but we don’t have ball control on that,” he said, pointing to Democrats who lead the chamber. 

He noted that the bill still has not been filed by Democrats who he said were making last minute changes “trying to shore up support.”

On how it will play out, he predicted that if the motion to proceed vote does happen around 2 p.m. ET, the reading by the clerks could go until about midnight and then the Senate will adjourn for the day but the 20 hours of allotted debate time will tick away even when they are not in session.

He said it’s possible with cooperation both sides will yield back some of the 20 hours when they come back in Friday and that it “seems reasonable” that the vote-a-rama could start at about this time tomorrow. 

He said it’s “hard to say” how many amendments his side will offer but, “We’ve got a long, long list, but it really comes down to individual members.”

When will it end? When senators get tired, he said.  

Finally, he said he didn’t know how Alaska GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a moderate up for re-election, will vote on the bill, but he said he’s “hopeful” she sticks with Republicans in opposing it. 

The Senate is gearing up for a marathon effort to pass President Biden’s Covid-19 relief bill.

The stretch could include a late night of voting on amendments before the final vote. If passed in the chamber, the bill will have to go back to the House for a separate vote before Biden signs it into law.

CNN’s chief congressional correspondent Manu Raju was live from Capitol Hill, answering your questions about the bill.

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You may have heard a lot about a process called budget reconciliation ahead of the Senate vote on their version of the Covid-19 relief bill.

Here’s what it means:

Why the process matters for the Senate’s vote on the relief bill:

Read more about budget reconciliation here.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called out GOP Sen. Ron Johnson in a floor speech, saying that he has “decided to make himself the face of the Republican opposition” to the $1.9 trillion relief package, with his plan to force a full reading of the 600-page bill.

He said Democrats are “delighted” Johnson “wants to give the American people another opportunity to hear what’s in the American Rescue Plan. If the senator from Wisconsin wants to read it. Let everybody listen.” 

The New York Democrat added that “no matter how long it takes, the Senate is going to stay in session to finish the bill this week. The American people deserve nothing less.”

Schumer reiterated that Congress is not going to make the same mistake of a “limited” and “constrained” response to the financial crisis of 2008-09 that led to “a long, slow painful recovery.”

“We are not going to make those same mistakes again,” he said. “We are not going to condemn millions of working Americans to another lost decade of tepid recovery. We are not going to abdicate our responsibility to help the American people just because we’ve started to see the first hint that things aren’t as bad as during the very worst days of the pandemic.”

Sen. Ron Johnson, a Republican from Wisconsin, said Thursday he’s setting up a “shift schedule” to keep enough GOP senators on the floor during the upcoming lengthy vote-a-rama so that procedurally he is able to continue offering amendments to the Covid relief bill, which he opposes and wants to change.  

Under Senate rules, in order to get a roll call vote on an amendment, Johnson would need the support of 13 of his colleagues on the floor in order for the presiding officer to recognize there is a “sufficient second” to his request for a vote. 

Asked if he has enough support from his GOP colleagues, Johnson replied, “I certainly hope so, I’m setting up a shift schedule even as we speak right now for people to sign on.”  

The Wisconsin Republican still won’t say how long he would attempt to drag out floor debate, something he can do under the free-flowing rules of debate over budget reconciliation legislation, but said senators “should consider every amendment offered” for however long that takes. 

Johnson also said of his plan to force a full reading of 600-page relief bill, a process that could take 10 hours that he feels “bad for the clerks.”

“By the way I feel bad for the clerks who are going to have to read it, but it’s just important,” he added.

While the final Senate bill has not been released yet, lawmakers are expected to make a major change — narrowing eligibility for the stimulus checks.

The Senate is predicted to amend the House bill on the $1,400-per-person stimulus payments to tighten eligibility.

Here’s a breakdown of who would qualify for the checks in the Senate bill:

The bill passed by the House set the income caps at $200,000 for couples and $100,000 for individuals. The Senate change leaves out about 7 million families, according to an estimate from the Penn Wharton Budget Model.

Unlike the previous two rounds, adult dependents — including college students — are expected to be eligible for the payments

Some more background: Senate Democratic leaders are facing more hurdles to advancing the legislation since the party can’t afford to lose a single member thanks to the 50-50 split in the chamber. Plus, they must adhere to the strict rules of reconciliation, which they are using to approve the bill without any Republican support.

Time is of the essence. An estimated 11.4 million workers will lose their unemployment benefits between mid-March and mid-April unless Congress passes its next coronavirus relief package quickly, a recent study by The Century Foundation found.

Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon, said he would have preferred the House bill when it comes to direct stimulus payment thresholds, but that he notches it as a “win” against what could have been an even lower bottom line. 

Wyden also said he’s hopeful there will be a vote today, saying things are dragging out because of “stunts.”

“All I can tell you is, we had a stunt yesterday,” he said. “Yeah, I’m not in control of stunt prevention, but that’s what we dealt with yesterday.”