Democrats on track to pass Biden's COVID relief bill By John Zogby
It was a big victory for Biden after the House of Representatives passed his $1.94 trillion COVID-19 relief and stimulus package. Now, it goes to the Senate, where it looks like Vice President Kamala Harris will have to break another tie.
The Senate's parliamentarian may have done Biden a favor by ruling the $15-per-hour minimum wage piece out of the bill. One, possibly two, Democratic votes would have been lost had it remained. For now, no Democratic defections seem likely.
Photo from White House
It also looks like the Democrats can block a filibuster so the president could sign the largest stimulus package in history soon. At the same time, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and others are reporting fewer new COVID-19 cases, fewer deaths, and significant gains in the number of people who have received vaccines.
Good news also as Johnson & Johnson's single vaccine has won approval and shows evidence of being effective against the virulent U.K. strain that is starting to spread. On the other hand, I am not so sure why the United States had to bomb a Shiite enclave in Iraq. If it was muscle-flexing against Iran as we try to coax them back into the nuclear deal, I am afraid it only muddied the water.
But it was mainly a good week as the president traveled to weather-ravaged Texas while that state's embattled Republican Sen. Ted Cruz showed off his tan in Orlando, Florida, at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, proclaiming that Orlando is not as nice as Cancun, Mexico. Someone needs to talk to that one.
John Zogby (@TheJohnZogby) is the founder of the Zogby Poll and Zogby companies, including John Zogby Strategies, and author of We Are Many We Are One: Neo-Tribes and Tribal Analytics in the 21st Century America.
