Senate Republicans are reportedly planning to force a full-reading of the lengthy, $2 trillion COVID relief bill being pushed by Democrats and the White House. The legislation with a hefty price tag is filled with unnecessary spending that is completely unrelated to the purpose of delivering relief to the American people burdened by the pandemic. The price tag of the Democrat-proposed package rivals that of the Coronavirus, Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act that was passed in March of 2020 at the beginning of the pandemic.
In hopes of trimming down the spending-heavy legislation, a few Senate Republicans aim to force the bill in its entirety to be read on the floor of the Senate. The effort to expose the bill’s non-coronavirus spending elements is spearheaded by Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI).
B) So this could slow up consideration of the COVID bill in the Senate. It would delay and not count against the 20 hours of debate on the bill. And, it would delay the vote-a-rama on the bill
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) March 3, 2021
NEW: @SenRonJohnson says on WISN radio that he plans to delay the Senate from taking up the #COVID relief bill by forcing the reading of the entire bill on the floor
— Kelly Phares (@kellyfphares) March 3, 2021
JOHNSON: "I'm going to make them read that thing, probably take about 10 hours."
Ron Johnson: "I'm going to make them read their 600-700 page bill."
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) March 3, 2021
Johnson also plans to force votes on a HUGE amount of amendments to drag it out. "We need to keep this process going...I'm going to lead the effort to resist this thing."
Suggests it could drag into Sunday
Sen. Johnson says he plans to stay on the Senate floor to make sure Democrats can’t waive the reading of the covid bill
— Burgess Everett (@burgessev) March 3, 2021
“That’s what I’ll have to do”
“It’s not about delaying things it’s about educating the public about what this bill Is and what this bill isn’t”
Any lawmaker can force a full reading on the floor of the upper chamber. The forced reading of the bill's text will delay the process by at least 10 hours, as Democrats hoped to quickly pass the package and hand a win to the Biden White House.