Democrats agreed to limit direct checks for high earners but defeated several Republican amendments to a budget resolution key to passing the president’s $1.9 trillion rescue plan.
By Luke Broadwater, Hailey Fuchs and Jim Tankersley
Published Feb. 4, 2021Updated Feb. 5, 2021, 9:26 a.m. ET
WASHINGTON — The Senate endorsed President Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus package just before sunrise on Friday, voting along party lines over unified Republican opposition to approve a budget blueprint that would allow Democrats to enact it with no G.O.P. support.
After a 15-hour voting session that stretched overnight, Vice President Kamala Harris arrived early in the morning to the Senate dais, where she cast her first tiebreaking vote. The Senate adopted the budget measure by a vote of 51 to 50 at about 5:30 a.m.
In the marathon session — known as a vote-a-rama and for which more than 800 amendments were drafted — Senate Democrats maneuvered through a series of politically tricky amendments that Republicans sought to attach to their budget plan.
