Schumer: Senate Will 'Power Through And Finish This Bill'

Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) speaking on the Senate floor says that "The Senate's going to take a lot of votes, but we are going to power through and finish this bill however long it takes" referring to the upcoming vote-a-rama on the American Rescue Plan (the administration's USD1.9trn COVID-19 relief package).

• Implicitly criticising Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) for requesting a full reading of the bill last night - a task that took Senate clerks 10 hours and 43 minutes - Schumer says "As for our friend from Wisconsin, I hope he enjoyed his Thursday evening."
• Now begins up to 20 hours of debate on the bill, although the full time allocation is unlikely to be used. Congressional observers expecting long vote series to start around 1200ET (1700GMT, 1800CET), with the vote-a-rama beginning at some point in the afternoon ET.
• 'Vote-a-rama' (an accepted term for the process) happens when legislation is being passed as part of a reconciliation process. As a filibuster is not possible, instead the minority party submits huge numbers of amendments with little-to-no chance of being approved in order to hold up the process of approving the bill. All amendments must be 'disposed of' before the bill can proceed.
• Even if the Republicans are able to gain support from some Democrats to get an amendment approved, at the end of the process the Senate majority leader has the ability to introduce an amendment that removes all previous amendments, making the process mean little other than testing the stamina of each set of senators.