参议院周四将讨论1.9万亿美元的冠状病毒救助法案，但在对乔·拜登总统的法案进行表决之前签名立法共和党人声称该法案规模庞大，不会解决与大流行有关的问题，他们为旨在减缓势头的一系列漫长的程序性措施奠定了基础。
民主党人预计，他们将团结一致，在拜登之后一致投票支持援助做出让步安抚温和派。如果他们团结一致，共和党几乎无法阻止它在平分秋色的参议院获得通过。
但这并不能阻止共和党人努力使通过成为一件艰难的事情。
威斯康星州参议员罗恩·约翰逊(Ron Johnson)宣布，他打算通过要求参议院办事员大声朗读近600页的法案全文，将辩论时间延长几个小时。助手们估计这可能需要8到10个小时。
格雷格·纳什/美联社泳池
参议员罗恩·约翰逊在参议院国土安全和政府事务委员会上发言
最终的法案文本和成本估算还没有提供给参议员。约翰逊说，他要求对法案进行全面阅读，以便让工作人员和立法者有更多的时间熟悉法案内容，并提出额外的修正案。
“我很抱歉店员们不得不阅读它，但它对你来说很重要，所以我们经常匆忙处理这些长达数十万页的巨额账单。你没有时间。没有人有时间读它们，”约翰逊说。"这将使每个人都有时间考虑条款是什么."
多数党领袖查克·舒默批评约翰逊使用拖延战术。
“我们都知道这只会推迟不可避免的事情，”舒默说。"对参议院职员来说，这只会造成几处喉咙痛。"
肖恩·休/环保局通过Shutterstock
参议院多数党领袖查克·舒默在随后的新闻发布会上总结了他的讲话
共和党人还计划提出一系列修正案，以兑现少数党领袖米奇·麦康奈尔的承诺，即共和党人将“尽一切努力”阻止该法案。
关于该法案的最后一次马拉松式投票持续了大约15个小时。参议员迈克·布劳恩。，称之为“最后一轮投票的热身环节”。
“将会有很多修正，”布劳恩说。“你们将会有很多修正案，你们将会有很多东西会在修正案中被删除，但我们是否会在这方面有所进展，我不确定。”
该法案在没有一个共和党支持者的情况下获得众议院通过，麦康奈尔说，他希望参议院共和党人也将“一致反对”该法案。尚不清楚他是否会如愿以偿。
温和的共和党参议员莉萨·穆尔科斯基尚未表示她打算如何就该法案进行投票，最近几天，拜登做出了让步，以安抚民主党核心小组中的温和派，这也可能赢得温和的共和党人的青睐。
例如，参议院版本的法案不包括要求将最低工资提高到每小时15美元的措辞。该提案不受温和的民主党人乔·曼钦(Joe Manchin，D-W.Va)和亚利桑那州基斯顿·西内马(Kyrsten Sinema，D-Ariz)的欢迎，被参议院议员排除在预算法案之外。
莎拉·西尔比格/泳池通过美联社
弗吉尼亚州民主党参议员乔·曼钦在参议院能源和自然资源委员会发言
拜登和参议院民主党人周三还达成一项协议，降低2010年的收入门槛谁会收到部分直接付款。收入低于75，000美元的个人和收入低于150，000美元的夫妇仍将获得全额直接付款，但部分付款的上限分别为80，000美元和160，000美元。
多雷财务董事长罗恩·怀登。，估计这将减少120亿美元的直接支票费用。
该法案的总成本仍不得而知。成员们在等待最后的分数，然后开始周四的辩论。
白宫新闻秘书珍·普萨基(Jen Psaki)周三表示，拜登一直在密切听取曼钦和其他温和派对该法案的建议，随着新的变化，曼钦似乎不太可能投票反对该方案。
曼钦说:“我只是认为，该法案真的有足够多的好东西——真的有足够多的好东西——我们应该能够做到——我们真的应该做到。”。“我对讨论和对话以及已经达成一致的一些变化感到非常高兴。”
民主党人周四表示，他们有信心通过程序障碍，通过立法。
密歇根州参议员黛比·斯塔贝诺(Debbie Stabenow)周四表示:“我们没有时间讨论目前正在进行的政治。”“我们将继续喝咖啡，完成这件事。”
Senate takes up COVID-19 relief package as GOP aims to block passage
The Senate is taking up the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill Thursday, but before voting on President Joe Biden'ssignature legislation, Republicans who claim the bill is massive and won't address issues related to the pandemic have set the stage for a lengthy series of procedural measures designed to slow down momentum.
Democrats are projecting that they will hold together and vote unanimously in favor of the aid after Bidenmade concessionsto appease the moderates. If they stick together, there's little the GOP can do to prevent it from passing in the evenly divided Senate.
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But that won't stop Republicans from fighting to make passage an arduous affair.
Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., announced his intent to extend the length of debate by several hours by requiring the Senate clerk to read the nearly 600-page bill aloud in full. Aides estimated this could take somewhere between eight and 10 hours.
Final bill text and cost estimations are not yet available to senators. Johnson said he's requesting a full reading of the bill in order to give staffers and lawmakers more time to familiarize themselves with what is in the bill and to propose additional amendments.
"I feel bad for the clerks are going have to read it, but it's just important you so, so often we rush these massive bills that are hundreds of 1000s of pages long. You don't have time. Nobody has time to read them," Johnson said. "This will give everybody time to consider what the provisions are."
Majority Leader Chuck Schumer criticized Johnson for using a delay tactic.
"We all know this will merely delay the inevitable," Schumer said. "It will accomplish little more than a few sore throats for the Senate clerk."
Republicans also plan to offer a laundry list of amendments to make good on Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's promise that Republicans will be "fighting in every way we can" to block the bill.
The last marathon-voting session on the bill lasted about 15 hours. Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind., called that a "warm-up session" for what's to come on the vote for final passage.
"There's going to be a lot of amendments," Braun said. "You're going to have a lot of amendments you're going to have a lot of stuff that's going to be struck through an amendment, but whether we get anywhere on that I'm not sure."
The bill cleared the House without a single Republican backer and McConnell said he is hopeful that Senate Republicans will also "unanimously oppose" the bill. It's not yet clear whether he'll have his way.
Moderate Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski hasn't yet said how she intends to vote on the bill, and in recent days, Biden has made concessions to appease moderates within the Democratic caucus -- that could also earn favor with moderate Republicans.
The Senate version of the bill does not include language that would have required a raise in the minimum wage to $15 an hour, for example. The proposal, which was unpopular with moderate Democrats Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., was ruled out of bounds for a budget bill by the Senate parliamentarian.
Biden and Senate Democrats also cut a deal Wednesday to lower the income threshold forwho will receivepartial direct payments. Individuals making under $75,000 and couples making under $150,000 will still receive a full direct payment, but partial payments will cap off at $80,000 and $160,000 respectively.
Finance Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., estimated this would decrease the cost of direct checks by $12 billion.
A total cost of the bill is still not publicly known. Members were waiting for a final score before they proceeded to debate Thursday.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Wednesday that Biden had been listening closely to the suggestions of Manchin and other moderates on the bill -- and with the new changes -- Manchin seemed unlikely to vote against the package.
"I just think that the bill has, really, enough good stuff -- really does have enough good stuff -- that we should be able to make this work -- we really should," Manchin said. "I'm very pleased with the discussions and dialogues and some changes that have been agreed upon."
Democrats on Thursday said they were confident they could move through the procedural hoops and pass the legislation.
"We don't have time for the politics that are going on right now," Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., said Thursday. "We're going to just going to keep drinking coffee and getting this thing done."
