President Biden wants to claim a bipartisan victory if a coronavirus rescue package is pushed through the Senate using a special budget procedure that only requires a simple majority, and the White House on Thursday kept up its pressure campaign on Republicans.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Senate Republicans could still vote in favor of a rescue measure, even if it is brought to the chamber’s floor via that tool, known as “budget reconciliation.”
“The president wants this to be a bipartisan package, regardless of the mechanisms. Republicans can still vote for a package even it goes through reconciliation,” she said in the White House press briefing room. “There’s no blood oath.”
Biden has repeatedly expressed his desire for a bipartisanship coronavirus rescue deal as his $1.9 trillion proposal faces obstacles on Capitol Hill.
To make that hope a reality, Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and top White House aides, including chief economic adviser Brian Deese, have been courting centrist senators on the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue as they try to shore up 50 Democrats and a necessary 10 Republicans to pass their “American Rescue Plan” using regular congressional procedures.
So-called “regular order” in the upper chamber requires 60 votes to end debate and move to a final, simple majority vote on passage.
But with Biden aiming to sign a second broader economic recovery package, he and his staff have signaled their openness to the reconciliation option to fast-track the process if necessary. That’s rankled some of the Senate Republicans they were seeking to woo, including Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Rob Portman of Ohio, and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.
Biden’s team has similarly signaled it could negotiate the terms of the bill, but Psaki said Thursday it was “not looking to split” the legislation. Reports emerged Thursday that one pathway could be to pass provisions for checks before tackling his other wish list items.
“That is not a proposal from the White House,” she said. “That is not what our focus is, or our intention is.”
She added, “We’re not going to do this in a piecemeal way or break apart a big package that’s meant to address the crisis we’re facing.”
Psaki also didn’t rule out Biden signing a final product supported only by Democrats.
“We’re not quite there yet,” she said.
