Senate passes COVID-19 stimulus bill

Senators buried their faces in their hands and dozed at their desks during an all-night session that finally ended midday Saturday with the passage of an economic relief package. All 50 Democrats voted for the $1.9 trillion bill. Vice President Kamala Harris did not have to break a tie because one Republican, Sen. Dan Sullivan of Alaska, missed the vote, making the final count 50-49.

What’s in the bill? Everything but the kitchen sink. It provides $1,400 for most Americans, extra unemployment benefits, and vast piles of taxpayer money for COVID-19 vaccines and testing, local governments, schools, and ailing industries—along with tax breaks for lower-earning people, families with children, and consumers buying health insurance. “The Senate has never spent $2 trillion in a more haphazard way,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. He called the bill Democrats’ “Washington wish list.” The House and Senate must reconcile their versions of the bill before sending it to President Joe Biden for his signature.

Dig deeper: Read Joel Belz’s column about Democrats’ big-spending ways.