• Did the Vote Pass? No
  • Voted Yea 49
  • Voted Nay 50
  • Didn't Vote 1
  • Voted Present 0
This bill would spend another $1.9 trillion on top of the over $4 trillion that Congress already allocated for COVID-19 relief in 2020. In addition to the fact that much of the previously appropriated money has not even finished being spent or used, the lion’s share of this money isn’t even addressing the root problems being posed by this pandemic itself, and in fact is making the situation worse. As the President of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, Maya MacGuineas, has noted, “Only about 1 percent of the entire package goes toward COVID vaccines, and 5 percent is truly focused on public health needs surrounding the pandemic.”

As was expected, H.R. 1319 provides for $1,400 direct payments to individuals, dubbed “recovery rebates,” with an additional $1,400 for each dependent, and $2,800 for joint filers. These direct payments come on top of the original $1,000 and $600 payments from 2020. As with previous direct payment schemes, writing more checks to the American public is putting a band-aid on a bullet wound. These provisions do nothing to aid in reopening our economy or help unemployed Americans get back to work and often go to individuals who don’t need it, at the expense of those in our society who are truly hurting from this pandemic and its effects.

Similarly, this package includes another $128.5 billion in new aid for the Department of Education to disperse to the states, with no ties to reopening schools. This, in spite of the fact that there is still well over $50 billion in previous education funds unused from previous COVID relief bills. Much of this money is not even obligated to be spent within the next year or two, and does nothing to solve the basic problem that states and localities need to get kids back physically into classrooms as soon as possible (which the CDC has declared safe to do).

One of the most contentious sections of H.R. 1319 would more than double the federal minimum wage from $7.25 per hour to $15 per hour over the next five years. Doing so would undoubtedly place a heavy burden on small businesses, such as restaurants, that are already in dire straits due to government-mandated lockdowns. Beyond the policy reasons to oppose raising the federal minimum wage, including this provision in the budget reconciliation bill clearly violates the Byrd Rule, which is not just a rule — it is law. If Democrats want to raise the minimum wage, they should at least attempt do so through the proper legislative procedure, rather than attaching it inappropriately as a rider on must-pass budgetary measures.

In addition to the massive amount of federal dollars already spent to bail out state and local governments, H.R. 1319 gives away $219.8 billion to cover the costs of the COVID-19 pandemic and “address the negative economic impacts of such emergency.” Subtitle A of Title V provides $4.5 billion for territories, $20 billion for tribal governments, and $195.3 billion for the states and DC. This section also provides an additional $130.2 billion for local governments. These state and local bailouts are framed as “fiscal recovery funds,” despite the fact that they do nothing to solve the underlying fiscal issues faced by state and local governments, many of which predated COVID-19. Once again, Congress appears more willing to simply throw money we don’t have at an issue rather than addressing its root cause, and in the process, forcing taxpayers from fiscally responsible states to subsidize the fiscal mismanagement of blue states.

H.R. 1319 also provides an additional $10 billion to be used in the centralized planning and production of medical supplies under the Defense Production Act (DPA). Throughout this pandemic, attempts to centrally direct these supplies have repeatedly proven less effective than similar efforts by private actors, as exemplified most recently by the embarrassingly inefficient initial distribution of vaccines by federal and state authorities.

Legislator's Votes

Official's Name Party District Voted

John Barrasso

Republican

WY

Yea

Marsha Blackburn

Republican

TN

Yea

Roy Blunt

Republican

MO

Yea

John Boozman

Republican

AR

Yea

Mike Braun

Republican

IN

Yea

Richard Burr

Republican

Yea

Shelley Capito

Republican

WV

Yea

Bill Cassidy

Republican

LA

Yea

Susan Collins

Republican

ME

Yea

John Cornyn

Republican

TX

Yea

Tom Cotton

Republican

AR

Yea

Kevin Cramer

Republican

ND

Yea

Mike Crapo

Republican

ID

Yea

Ted Cruz

Republican

TX

Yea

Steve Daines

Republican

MT

Yea

Joni Ernst

Republican

IA

Yea

Deb Fischer

Republican

NE

Yea

Lindsey Graham

Republican

SC

Yea

Chuck Grassley

Republican

IA

Yea

Bill Hagerty

Republican

TN

Yea

Josh Hawley

Republican

MO

Yea

John Hoeven

Republican

ND

Yea

Cindy Hyde-Smith

Republican

MS

Yea

Jim Inhofe

Republican

OK

Yea

Ron Johnson

Republican

WI

Yea

John Kennedy

Republican

LA

Yea

James Lankford

Republican

OK

Yea

Mike Lee

Republican

UT

Yea

Cynthia Lummis

Republican

WY

Yea

Roger Marshall

Republican

KS

Yea

Mitch McConnell

Republican

KY

Yea

Jerry Moran

Republican

KS

Yea

Lisa Murkowski

Republican

AK

Yea

Rand Paul

Republican

KY

Yea

Rob Portman

Republican

OH

Yea

Jim Risch

Republican

ID

Yea

Mitt Romney

Republican

UT

Yea

Mike Rounds

Republican

SD

Yea

Marco Rubio

Republican

FL

Yea

Ben Sasse

Republican

NE

Yea

Tim Scott

Republican

SC

Yea

Rick Scott

Republican

FL

Yea

Richard Shelby

Republican

AL

Yea

John Thune

Republican

SD

Yea

Thom Tillis

Republican

NC

Yea

Pat Toomey

Republican

PA

Yea

Tommy Tuberville

Republican

AL

Yea

Roger Wicker

Republican

MS

Yea

Todd Young

Republican

IN

Yea

Tammy Baldwin

Democrat

WI

Nay

Michael Bennet

Democrat

CO

Nay

Dick Blumenthal

Democrat

CT

Nay

Cory Booker

Democrat

NJ

Nay

Sherrod Brown

Democrat

OH

Nay

Maria Cantwell

Democrat

WA

Nay

Ben Cardin

Democrat

MD

Nay

Tom Carper

Democrat

DE

Nay

Bob Casey

Democrat

PA

Nay

Chris Coons

Democrat

DE

Nay

Catherine Cortez Masto

Democrat

NV

Nay

Tammy Duckworth

Democrat

IL

Nay

Dick Durbin

Democrat

IL

Nay

Dianne Feinstein

Democrat

CA

Nay

Kirsten Gillibrand

Democrat

NY

Nay

Maggie Hassan

Democrat

NH

Nay

Martin Heinrich

Democrat

NM

Nay

John Hickenlooper

Democrat

CO

Nay

Mazie Hirono

Democrat

HI

Nay

Tim Kaine

Democrat

VA

Nay

Mark Kelly

Democrat

AZ

Nay

Angus King

Independent

ME

Nay

Amy Klobuchar

Democrat

MN

Nay

Patrick Leahy

Democrat

Nay

Ben Luján

Democrat

NM

Nay

Joe Manchin

Democrat

WV

Nay

Ed Markey

Democrat

MA

Nay

Bob Menendez

Democrat

NJ

Nay

Jeff Merkley

Democrat

OR

Nay

Chris Murphy

Democrat

CT

Nay

Patty Murray

Democrat

WA

Nay

Jon Ossoff

Democrat

GA

Nay

Alex Padilla

Democrat

CA

Nay

Gary Peters

Democrat

MI

Nay

Jack Reed

Democrat

RI

Nay

Jacky Rosen

Democrat

NV

Nay

Bernie Sanders

Independent

VT

Nay

Brian Schatz

Democrat

HI

Nay

Chuck Schumer

Democrat

NY

Nay

Jeanne Shaheen

Democrat

NH

Nay

Kyrsten Sinema

Independent

AZ

Nay

Tina Smith

Democrat

MN

Nay

Debbie Stabenow

Democrat

MI

Nay

Jon Tester

Democrat

MT

Nay

Chris Van Hollen

Democrat

MD

Nay

Mark Warner

Democrat

VA

Nay

Raphael Warnock

Democrat

GA

Nay

Elizabeth Warren

Democrat

MA

Nay

Sheldon Whitehouse

Democrat

RI

Nay

Ron Wyden

Democrat

OR

Nay

Dan Sullivan

Republican

AK

Missed