Vice President Kamala Harris cast the first tie-breaking vote of her Vice Presidency in the Senate on Friday morning.
Harris cast a vote on a budget resolution that is a vital step towards passing President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief plan. The plan has not garnered any support from Republican lawmakers.
“The yeas are 50. The nays are 50. The Senate being equally divided, the vice president votes in the affirmative. And the concurrent resolution as amended is adopted,” Harris declared at around 5:30 a.m. Democrats applauded her statement.
The tie-breaker follows an all-night session in the Senate. The budget is now making its way back to the House. Once there, it will need to be re-approved due to the Senate’s changes during its night session.
Harris is hopeful that the Senate will reach “common ground” moving forward without intervention.
“The goal is to not have to pass everything with 51 votes,” a source close to the Biden administration told CNN. “If they’re going to be votes in the Senate where the outcome isn’t known…She basically has to stay in DC. International trips, national trips to small businesses or wherever — that can’t really be happening, which is a new dynamic they’re going to have to deal with.”
The new COVID-19 relief proposal includes $1,400 stimulus checks, extended emergency unemployment benefits, funding for vaccine distribution, and coronavirus testing.
