The Democratic-controlled House of Representatives voted nearly along party lines Friday to approve a key procedural step paving the way for the House to pass President Joe Biden’s $1.9 COVID-19 relief bill to pass the cham as early as the end of the month.

By a 219-209 vote, the House adopted a budget blueprint instructing congressional committees to begin drafting relief legislation including billions in vaccine funding, $1,400 checks, and aid for state and local governments. It kicks off a process known as “reconciliation” allowing Democrats to bypass a procedural roadblock known as a filibuster. They would otherwise have to secure the votes of at least 10 Republicans in the Senate to advance the legislation, a potentially difficult task because Senate Republicans have expressed opposition to a large relief package.

The nonbinding budget measure does not require Biden’s signature.

A version of the measure passed the House earlier this week, and it passed the Senate early around 5:30 a.m. Friday morning following a marathon session in which Republicans introduced nonbinding amendments in an effort to force Democrats to take tough votes on tax increases on small businesses, stimulus checks for undocumented immigrants, and other controversial issues. Vice President Kamala Harris, in her role as president of the Senate, broke a 50-50 tie in the Senate Friday morning, securing final Senate passage of the measure.

Republicans argue Democrats are advancing a process that excludes them from deliberating in the process and would add to the deficit. Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, the top Republican on the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, called it a “partisan, rushed” bill.

But Democrats are unfazed by the criticism from Republicans. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said in a Friday letter to House Democrats the drafting process would start next week, with a goal of passing the relief bill by the end of the month.

— Nicholas Wu

House Democrats aim to pass Biden’s COVID relief plan in two weeks

House Democratic leaders expressed confidence that Biden’s COVID relief bill would pass Congress before March 15, when enhanced unemployment benefits are set to end.

“Absolutely,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said to reporters outside the White House after House Democrats met with Biden Friday morning. “Before then.”

Pelosi also said Democrats want to move the bill out of the House within two weeks.

The California Democrat’s prediction establishes a rapid timeline for House Democrats to pass the $1.9 trillion relief package include $1,400 stimulus checks, billions for vaccine distribution, and aid for state and local governments.

The House is set to approve a budget blueprint today starting the process of passing the bill.

It kicks off a process known as “reconciliation” allowing Democrats to bypass a procedural roadblock known as a filibuster. They would otherwise have to secure the votes of at least 10 Republicans in the Senate to advance the legislation, a potentially difficult task because Senate Republicans have expressed resistance to passing another relief package.

House committees will then draft legislation based on their areas of jurisdiction and submit their portions to the House Budget Committee by Feb. 16, which will then combine the drafts into a bill that can pass the full House.

– Nicholas Wu and Joey Garrison

Biden huddles with Democrats, speak on economy after Senate clears path for COVID relief bill

President Joe Biden hosted Democratic leaders in the Oval Office Friday as his administration presses Congress to pass his $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package.

Signs of the ongoing stress on the economy from the pandemic were evident in the latest employment report, which showed that employers added a meager 49,000 jobs in January.

Biden noted that the jobs report indicated that just 6,000 jobs had been created in the private sector. “At that rate, it’s going to take 10 years before we get to full unemployment,” he said. “That’s not hyperbole. That’s a fact.”

“We’re going to be in a situation where it takes a long, long time,” he told reporters.

The Oval Office meeting came just hours after the Senate set the stage for passage of the package, possibly by the end of the month.

More:‘It’s going to end up better for me’: Many workers who lost jobs due to COVID-19 have found higher-paying positions

The Senate voted 51-50 along party lines to approve a budget resolution, paving the way for Biden’s American Rescue Plan to become law. Vice President Kamala Harris, in her role as president of the Senate, cast the tie-breaking vote.

After the meeting with Democrats, Biden will speak about the economy and the need for the rescue package in an address from the White House State Dining Room.

Biden isn’t budging from his demand for $1.9 trillion in COVID relief, arguing the package is needed to help Americans recover from the economic fallout of the pandemic. His proposal calls for another round of direct $1,400 payments to millions of Americans, $130 billion to reopen the nation’s schools, $350 billion in aid to state and local governments, $160 billion for vaccine testing and equipment, $50 billion for grants and loans to businesses and raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour.

Ten Senate Republicans are pushing a smaller $618 billion proposal that would scrap the aid to state and local governments, reduce the stimulus checks from $1,400 to $1,000 and remove Biden’s proposal to boost the minimum wage.

– Michael Collins and Ledyard King

Senate clears way for COVID relief package

The Senate early Friday morning set the stage for the passage – possibly by the end of this month – of a $1.9 trillion COVID stimulus package that President Joe Biden is pushing.

The 51-50 vote to approve a budget resolution, paving the way for Biden’s American Rescue Plan to become law, fell along party lines with every Democrat in favor and every Republican opposed. Vice President Kamala Harris, in her role as president of the Senate, broke the tie at 5:23 a.m.

“In the early hours of this morning, the Senate took a critical step towards providing our health care heroes, unemployed workers, small businesses, schools, state and local governments, and American families who are trying to make ends meet, the big and bold assistance they’ve been asking for,” Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said in a statement following the vote.

More:Days after talks with GOP senators, Biden signals he’ll move ahead without them on COVID-19 relief bill

The resolution allows Democrats to use a process known as “reconciliation,” which allows budget-related bills to bypass a Senate filibuster. Without it, Democrats would need at least 60 votes – which would require at least 10 Republicans – a tall order given the opposition from GOP lawmakers.

Republicans objected to the bill on several grounds: It was too big for a nation already dealing with spiraling debt; it included an increase to the federal minimum wage that would kill jobs: and the aid from previous stimulus bills had yet to be fully exhausted.

“We passed a $900 billion bill in December and only 20% of the money that we appropriated is even out the door yet,” Texas GOP Sen. John Cornyn said.

Committees in the House and Senate will now start working on several aspects of Biden’s American Rescue Plan, which would provide $1,400 in direct payments to individuals, provide $160 billion to distribute COVID tests and vaccines, and provide hundreds of billions to cash-strapped state and local governments to stay afloat and open schools.

– Ledyard King

House removes Marjorie Taylor Greene from committees

The Democratic-led House on Thursday voted mostly along party lines to remove Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene from her two committees following a charged floor debate rife with finger-pointing and threats of repercussions.

The vote was 230-199, with 11 Republicans joining every Democrat in stripping her from the Education & Labor Committee and the Budget Committee for a litany of incendiary, conspiratorial and menacing social media posts before she was elected.

The floor debate in a chamber already riven by division and mistrust turned raw, as lawmakers took turns arguing not just about Greene’s particular conduct but what it said about House members who demanded – or objected to – her punishment.

More:House removes Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene from committees

Faced with the loss of her committee assignments, Greene came to the floor earlier Thursday to disavow some of her previous incendiary posts on social media in a last-ditch effort to avoid punishment.

Though she expressed some regret, Greene never apologized during a speech on the House floor.

— Ledyard King and Nicholas Wu

Trump says he won’t testify at Senate impeachment trial

Former President Donald Trump said Thursday he will not testify in the Senate impeachment trial, denying a request from Democratic prosecutors who want him to answer questions under oath.    

Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., a former constitutional law professor leading the Democrats’ case, wrote a letter to Trump saying his response to the article of impeachment earlier this week had “denied many factual allegations,” and therefore Democrats requested he testify as early as next Monday and no later than next Thursday.

“If you decline this invitation, we reserve any and all rights, including the right to establish at trial that your refusal to testify supports a strong adverse inference regarding your actions (and inaction) on January 6, 2021,” Raskin wrote, referring to the Capitol riots last month.

Impeachment trial:Trump says he won’t testify, denying Democrats’ request

Trump’s attorneys responded to the request by blasting it as a “public relations stunt.” In a letter to Raskin and House prosecutors, Bruce Castor Jr. and David Schoen argued that needing testimony from the former president shows Democrats “cannot prove your allegations against the 45th President of the United States, who is now a private citizen.”

“The use of our Constitution to bring a purported impeachment proceeding is much too serious to try to play these games,” the attorneys wrote.

Ali Pardo, a spokeswoman for Trump, clarified to USA TODAY the former president had no intention of going under oath as part of the trial.

— Nicholas Wu, Bart Jansen and Christal Hayes