The agreement will make the first $10,200 in benefits nontaxable and includes a provision that the West Virginia Democrat secured to ensure that benefit
West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin brought the Senate to a standstill on Friday over a policy dispute that threatened to upend President Joe Biden's top agenda item -- a $1.9 trillion Covid relief bill -- and prompted a furious lobbying effort behind the scenes after Democrats thought they had party unity.
After hours of gridlock, Democrats reached a deal they believe clears the way to pass the plan, securing Manchin's support after Biden himself intervened.
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Activity in the Senate ground to a halt amid a holdup over unemployment benefits, with Manchin being pulled in two directions -- by Republicans who attempted to win him over on a proposal they had crafted and by the White House. The dispute was a sign of the centrist Democrat's power in the 50-50 Senate, where Democrats control the narrowest possible majority, and an example of how a single senator can derail the President's agenda.
The day started after Democrats and the White House reached their own last-minute agreement.
Democrats cut a deal on Friday morning in order to head off a competing amendment by Republican Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio, whose plan to extend $300 in weekly jobless benefits might have gotten enough votes to amend the underlying Covid relief bill. So Democrats decided to pare back their own jobless benefits, from $400 in the current bill to $300 per week -- and sweeten the pot, allowing people to deduct the first $10,200 from their taxes.
Yet that sweetener only soured Manchin, who had not signed off on the deal before it was announced, prompting a frantic scramble behind the scenes to secure his support after he balked at the proposal.
After hours of negotiation, Senate Democrats later offered -- and passed -- an amendment to extend the enhanced unemployment insurance program through September 6 at a rate of $300 per week as part of an agreement that Manchin accepted.
The agreement will make the first $10,200 in benefits nontaxable and includes a provision that the West Virginia Democrat secured to ensure that the benefit applies only to households making less than $150,000.
In the end, Manchin also secured a deal where the jobless benefits will expire roughly a month earlier than they would have under the deal cut Friday morning. Under that agreement, benefits would have been extended through September.
Manchin released a statement on the deal Friday evening, saying, "We have reached a compromise that enables the economy to rebound quickly while also protecting those receiving unemployment benefits from being hit with unexpected tax bills next year."
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement Friday evening that Biden "supports the compromise agreement, and is grateful to all the Senators who worked so hard to reach this outcome."
Vote-a-rama underway
The Senate is now undertaking a series of politically tough amendment votes that will stretch into Saturday, the last major hurdle senators face before voting on Biden's top legislative priority.
The long series of amendment votes, known as a vote-a-rama, is a Senate tradition that the minority party uses to put members of the majority on the record on controversial issues in an effort to make changes to a bill that they oppose.