With a 50-50 vote in the deadlocked Senate, broken by Vice President Kamala Harris, the legislative body has begun debate on President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill, setting up a likely vote by this weekend.

What You Need To Know

  • The Senate voted to advance debate on President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill, setting up a likely vote by this weekend

  • Vice President Kamala Harris broke the tie to advance debate on the measure in the 50-50 Senate

  • Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) forced the reading of the full bill by the Senate Clerk, which took nearly 11 hours

  • Democrats blasted Johnson's actions, including Rep. Eric Swalwell, who called it a "stunt"

Shortly after, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) objected to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer's motion to skip the reading of the bill, forcing the Senate's clerk to read the full text of the entire 628-page bill on the floor of the legislature, a process that took 10 hours, 43 minutes, wrapping up shortly after 2 a.m.

"If they’re going to add nearly $2T to the national debt at least we should know what’s in the bill," Johnson tweeted. 

Schumer said Johnson's action "would accomplish little more than a few sore throats for the Senate clerks," but added that "we are delighted that the senator from Wisconsin wants to give the American people another opportunity to hear what's in the American Rescue Plan."

"We Democrats want America to hear what's in the plan," Schumer added. "The American people will get another chance to hear about the tax breaks for low-income workers, and assistance for American families struggling with child care – two measures that help make the American Rescue Plan one of the single largest anti-poverty bills in recent history."

Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) blasted Johnson's actions as a "stunt" in an interview with CNN.

"Americans should see the bill. That's why it's posted online," he said. "To hold up the process on the floor and to have a clerk read the bill for 10 hours when anyone could read it online, that's just a stunt."

"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 added.

Republicans will also propose various amendments in a process known as the vote-a-rama, including some amendments unrelated to COVID-19 relief, which could draw out the process for a long time.

"I’m hoping for infinity," Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said of the vote-a-rama process Wednesday. "There are people talking about trying to set up a schedule and having it go on and on.

"I don’t really want it to pass, so infinity would be a good answer," he added.

The House of Representatives Saturday passed the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill, which includes direct $1,400 checks to Americans, in a nearly party line vote – 219-212 – with two Democrats breaking ranks and voting with Republicans against the measure. 

President Biden and Senate Democrats agreed to tighten income limits for stimulus checks, phasing out payments for people with higher-incomes after pushback from moderate Democrats for more "targeted" spending.

Originally, individuals earning up to $75,000 – and couples up to $150,000 – would get $1,400 checks per person. The version the House approved over the weekend would gradually phase down those amounts and disappear completely for individuals making $100,000 and couples earning $200,000. But under Wednesday’s agreement, those checks would end for individuals making $80,000 and couples earning $160,000.

The bill will still includes a continuation of the $400 extended weekly federal unemployment benefit, which some moderate Democrats looked to reduce, but backed down from.

Moderate Democrats, such as Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Joe Manchin (D-WV), pushed to narrow the upper income limits of the stimulus checks.

Sen. Shaheen said to reporters this week "I think we could drop it below the $200,000 and still get households that really need it," adding that she hopes the money could go to other causes, such as hospitals.

Democrats already dropped two transportation projects as examples of pork that would politically benefit Democrats leaders Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi.

Drew Hammill, a spokesperson for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, said the Senate Parliamentarian has ruled that a subway extension through downtown San Jose did not meet requirements for inclusion in the bill because it is part of a pilot project. The project was set to receive about $141 million under the bill that passed in the House. The parliamentarians rulings are generally respected by the Senate.

Also, the $1.5 million in funding to maintain and operate a bridge connecting Canada and the United States in upstate New York, Schumer’s home state, has been removed by Senate drafters of the bill.

The projects represent a tiny fraction of the overall bill’s cost, but they became popular talking points for Republicans lining up in opposition to the measure, which they says is bloated and unfocused. The subway extension was described as “Speaker Pelosi’s pork subway project” even though it is located 50 miles away from her district.

"Now that the two projects that Republicans misled the public about in the House bill have been removed, it is unclear how Republicans will justify their opposition to the American Rescue Plan, which has strong bipartisan support among the public," Hammill said.

The Associated Press contribued to this report.