Press secretary Jen Psaki said Thursday the White House is not be ruling out reconciliation as a means to pass President Biden’s $1.9T Covid relief bill.
Reconciliation is a special process for budget-related legislation that allows for a 51-majority vote, rather than the 60 votes normally required to advance a bill. Democrats have 51 votes in the Senate with Vice President Kamala Harris’ tie-breaking vote.
ABC News correspondent Mary Bruce during the daily White House briefing brought up comments Sen. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., made on the floor earlier Thursday, saying Democrats would move forward with Biden’s coronavirus relief proposal “with or without” Republicans.
“Does this hurt your call for bipartisanship and are you urging them to give this more time?” Bruce asked Psaki.
SCHUMER: DEMS PREPARED TO PASS CORONAVIRUS RELIEF ‘WITH OR WITHOUT’ REPUBLICANS
The president wants this to be a bipartisan package, regardless of the mechanisms,” she replied….