The Senate approved a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief plan on Saturday, as Democrats muscled through a marathon debate — and overcame dissent from moderates within their own ranks — to move one step closer to delivering President Biden his first legislative victory.

Democrats voted to adopt the bill without any Republican support after a roughly 24-hour, around-the-clock session, though it will now fall to the House to consider the sweeping package once again before it can become law and any of the aid can be dispersed.

The Senate’s passage of the measure marked an early win for Biden and his congressional Democratic allies, who had promised in the wake of the 2020 presidential election to authorize a robust package of new coronavirus aid – including another round of one-time checks for families – as one of their first acts.

But a prolonged standoff between centrists and progressives within the Democratic caucus quickly served to illustrate the precarious politics of the party’s meager tie-breaking majority in the Senate, where even one holdout can upend Democrats’ economic agenda in the early days of Biden’s presidency….

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Along with stimulus checks, unemployment aid, and cash to cities and states, the stimulus that passed the Senate on Saturday includes a bevy of aid to lessen businesses’ tax bills, assist Americans in paying for childcare and support transit and other infrastructure reforms. Schools and hospitals also receive a major financial boost as the U.S. government labors to respond to the coronavirus while simultaneously preparing to return to regular life more than a year after the pandemic first arrived.

But some of Democrats’ other priorities did not survive the fractious Senate debate. The most critical included a plan to boost the federal minimum wage to $15-per-hour, which would have marked the first such increase in decades….

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The House is still expected to pass the Senate’s bill quickly, teeing it up for Biden to sign in a matter of days….

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Note…

Democrats will have bragging rights….

Republicans?…(They DID get some amendments)