Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) speaks during a hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Jan. 27, 2021, on the Biden administration’s Ambassador to UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield.
Republican U.S. senators will submit a series of amendments opposing the Democratic budget agenda, and senators will continue to use the Budget Reconciliation Process to debate the 2021 budget resolution.
Senators Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida, Tim Scott, Republican of North Carolina, and James Lankford, Republican of Oklahoma, submitted an amendment to ensure that taxes on small businesses would not increase during the Epidemic. Another amendment was submitted by Senators Todd Young, Republican of Indiana, and Tom Cotton, Republican of Arkansas, who wanted to ensure that bailout checks would not be issued to illegal immigrants.
Rubio specifically noted that their amendment would prevent Democrats from using the “budget reconciliation process” to raise taxes on small businesses during the pandemic. Democrats can use this budget adjustment tool to bypass the bipartisan epidemic relief bill.
The “budget reconciliation process” allows congressional Democrats to pass tax and spending bills with a simple majority vote. Rubio and Lankford note that in 2020, Congress passed five separate relief bills that did not undergo the “budget reconciliation process.
According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the “budget reconciliation process” is a special legislative process designed to move forward quickly on high-priority fiscal legislation. It was created by the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 and allows for expedited consideration of certain tax, spending and debt limit legislation. In the Senate, the use of the “budget reconciliation process” to pass bills is not subject to “delaying tactics” (lengthy debates) and the scope for amendments to them is limited. It provides a real advantage for developing controversial budget and tax legislation.
Today, Senators Tim Scott, James Lankford and I are offering our colleagues an opportunity to prioritize our nation’s more than 30 million small businesses and their employees again by pledging not to raise taxes on them during the outbreak,” Rubio said at a news conference Thursday (Feb. 4). ” “It is clear that Democrats in Congress intend to pursue a radical agenda full of left-wing priorities. But in the midst of this public health crisis, it makes sense to ensure that small businesses don’t face another tax increase as they struggle to stay in business.”
Republicans oppose Democrats’ use of the “budget reconciliation process” to push the next stimulus package through, and are preparing to respond with a process called “Vote-a-rama. In this procedure, any senator can propose an amendment to the resolution, thus delaying the debate and vote on the bill.
Senate Minority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, called the resolution a “partisan rush job” and commented on the “budget reconciliation process” saying. “We will discuss the facts …… Senate Republicans will be ready and waiting with a series of amendments to improve bills that have been rushed through and skipped procedural steps.”
He added: “We will have Senators openly discussing the question of whether taxpayers should fund bailout checks issued to illegal immigrants…whether Democrats should raise taxes on small businesses in the midst of this historic crisis…and whether generous federal dollars should be funneled into districts that refuse to open their schools. And that’s just a small part of it.”
Meanwhile, Young and Cotton said they do not want any future bailout subsidies or similar direct economic stimulus grants to go to those who broke the law and entered the U.S. illegally, so they will offer an amendment during the vote.
Economic impact subsidies are intended to provide a lifeline to Americans struggling to make ends meet during the coronavirus (CCA) epidemic,” Young said. They are not intended for people who are illegally stranded in the United States.” “Our amendment will ensure that those who violate immigration laws will not receive taxpayer-funded relief.
Cotton added that bailout checks should not go to illegal immigrants and that “President Joe Biden should use the money to help America’s schools, businesses and families.”
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