February 5, 2021

She's called MVP (Madame Vice President!) for a reason.

At around 5:30 Friday morning, Kamala Harris cast her first tie-breaking vote in the US Senate. It was to move the Biden-Harris administration's COVID relief package through the Senate.

"On this vote, the yeas are 50, the nays are 50. The Senate being equally divided, the Vice President votes in the affirmative and concurrent resolution as amended is adopted," she said, in the formal terms required by the Senate procedure.

And all fifty Republican Senators voted no. Go figure.

The process now moves to Senate-House Committees to spend the money dictated by the overall package. CNN:

The budget resolution that passed is not the Covid relief bill. It simply sets the stage for Democrats to be able to use a process known as "budget reconciliation" to pass the relief bill on a party-line vote, possibly in late February or March, after the impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump is complete in the Senate.
Embedded in the budget resolution are reconciliation instructions for multiple congressional committees to formally draft and approve legislation on things like funds for vaccine production and distribution, unemployment insurance, stimulus checks and more.

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