Senate Democrats Overcome Impasse, Reach Agreement to Advance Covid Relief Bill

Deal with Sen. Joe Manchin ends daylong deadlock that threatened President Biden’s relief package

Sen. Joe Manchin (D., W.Va.) on his way to the Senate chamber ahead of a vote on President Biden's Covid-19 relief package on Friday.

Photo: jim lo scalzo/Shutterstock

WASHINGTON—Senate Democrats struck a deal Friday night to extend $300 weekly federal unemployment benefits through Sept. 6 following hours of negotiations with Sen. Joe Manchin, clearing the way for the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package’s expected passage on Saturday.

The daylong deliberations with Mr. Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat, had brought the chamber to a standstill, preventing lawmakers from making headway in the hourslong marathon of amendment votes, known as “vote-a-rama,” that precede the vote on the bill’s final passage. Lawmakers were still expected to vote Friday night on a slew of amendments stretching into Saturday morning.

The latest agreement from Senate Democrats would slightly extend the duration of the federal jobless benefits, but lower their weekly amount, compared to the bill passed by the House last Saturday, which provided $400 weekly payments through Aug. 29. Senate Democrats added a new provision to make the first $10,200 of the 2020 benefits nontaxable for households making less than $150,000.

“We have reached a compromise that enables the economy to rebound quickly while also protecting those receiving unemployment benefits from being hit with [an] unexpected tax bill next year,” Mr. Manchin said in a statement late Friday.

Once the Senate approves the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill, the legislation will go back to the House.

Photo: Alex Brandon/Associated Press

President Biden supports the compromise agreement Senate Democrats struck on unemployment benefits, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement. Democrats have been working to pass a new relief bill before current federal unemployment benefits expire in mid-March.

The bill also provides $1,400 direct payments to many Americans, sends $350 billion to state and local governments, funds vaccine distribution, and expands the child tax credit, among other measures. The package advanced on a procedural vote Thursday with the support of all 50 members of the Democratic caucus and no Republicans.

The Senate had stalled for hours Friday, after Mr. Manchin appeared willing to side with Republicans in an effort to shorten the duration of unemployment benefits, underscoring the precariousness of the party’s majority. During the negotiations, Senate leaders held open a vote on a minimum wage amendment for such a long period that by Friday night, as it approached the 11-hour mark, it became the longest recorded vote in modern Senate history.

Most Democrats in the 50-50 Senate had signed on to an effort unveiled Friday morning by Sen. Tom Carper (D., Del.) to lower the weekly federal jobless benefits to $300 a week but extend them through Oct. 4, instead of Aug. 29 in the House version. Mr. Carper’s amendment would also make the first $10,200 of the 2020 benefits nontaxable.

The final Democratic agreement differed from Mr. Carper’s original proposal by ending the jobless benefits on Sept. 6, rather than Oct. 4, and adding an income cap to the benefits that would be exempt from taxation.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said the Senate would ‘finish this bill however long it takes.’

Photo: shawn thew/Shutterstock

But Mr. Manchin appeared to be willing to support a rival GOP amendment from Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio that would extend the $300 weekly payments just through July 18, according to aides and lawmakers.

“I like good amendments,” Mr. Manchin said earlier Friday, but didn’t specify which amendments he was referring to.

Mr. Manchin was expected to vote for Mr. Portman’s amendment during the vote-a-rama. However, he is also expected to back the new Democratic amendment on jobless benefits, which is written to supersede the GOP measure. Cutting the unemployment benefits off in July, as the Portman amendment would have done, could have created problems in the House, where liberals have already been frustrated with changes demanded by centrist Senate Democrats. The House will need to pass the revised Senate bill before Mr. Biden can sign it into law.

Senate Democrats said the new compromise on jobless benefits still provided important aid, even if it fell short of what the more liberal lawmakers had sought.

“It’s going to provide meaningful relief to workers,” said Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D., Ore.), noting that it also moved the expiration date past August, when Congress is traditionally on recess.

Many House Democrats have said they want to wait to see what the Senate passes before indicating whether they will support it. But they have also emphasized the need for the relief package and would be under pressure not to derail Mr. Biden’s first legislative push.

Senate Democrats are advancing a $1.9 trillion Covid-19 aid package after making a series of adjustments to it. WSJ’s Gerald F. Seib explains what changes senators are making to the bill and what will likely stay the same. Photo illustration: Ang Li

The blitz of amendments stood as the last hurdle between Democrats and Senate passage of Mr. Biden’s relief plan. Democrats are using a special process tied to the budget to pass the package without any GOP support, with Vice President Kamala Harris casting the tiebreaking vote.

Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R., S.D.) said the day of Democratic negotiations frustrated some Republicans, making them more “committed to get a bunch of amendments.”

Senate Democrats are using a process known as reconciliation, which allows them to pass legislation tied to the budget with a simple majority, rather than the 60 votes most bills require. But because the process allows the majority party to pass legislation on its own, Senate rules carve out a place for lawmakers in the minority to make their voices heard, by allowing them to vote on an unlimited number of amendments. In practice, lawmakers generally get tired in the early hours of the morning and agree to wrap up the amendments, before voting on final passage.

Many of the amendments expected on Friday and Saturday are designed to force lawmakers from the other side of the aisle to go on the record on contentious political issues.

The last-minute changes to unemployment benefits capped a week of alterations made by Senate Democrats to accommodate their 50 members, who must be united to pass the bill.

The Senate blocked an amendment from Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders to increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour.

Photo: olivier douliery/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

The impact of the tax exemption would vary by person. Some with relatively low incomes overall wouldn’t get much of a benefit, but a middle-income person could save more than $1,000.

The move would reduce or eliminate surprise tax bills for people. Withholding varies across states, so many people hadn’t been paying enough during the course of 2020.

“For some of us, good Zoom lighting has been our biggest pandemic problem,” said Brian Galle, a Georgetown University law professor who has been advocating for the tax change. “But millions of others are still out of work, and this ensures they won’t have to choose between paying the IRS and paying for rent or their kids’ vaccinations.”

The new Democratic agreement retained a measure from Mr. Carper’s amendment to extend by a year limits on how much high-income earners can deduct certain business losses. Those limits, created in the 2017 tax law, were suspended by last year’s coronavirus relief package, to the frustration of progressive Democrats. They are now in effect but are scheduled to expire in 2025 like other pieces of the 2017 law. The Democratic plan would generate revenue by extending the provision through 2026.

The Senate blocked an amendment from Budget Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) to increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour. That was a plank of the bill passed by the House, but it was stripped out of the Senate version when the chamber’s parliamentarian ruled it didn’t comply with the rules. All 50 Republicans and eight members of the Democratic caucus opposed the amendment.

“If any senator believes this is the last time they will cast a vote on whether or not to give a raise to 32 million Americans, they are sorely mistaken,” Mr. Sanders said after the vote. “We’re going to keep bringing it up.”

Senators including Iowa Republican Chuck Grassley arriving at the U.S. Capitol Friday.

Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images

Write to Andrew Duehren at and Richard Rubin at


Appeared in the March 6, 2021, print edition as 'Democrats Press Ahead on Aid Democrats Wrangle Aid Details.'