Tell the Senate: People not Polluters

The Senate is scheduled to vote TODAY on President Biden’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan. The bill is intended to speed deployment of testing and the vaccine, and to provide assistance to Americans who are economically struggling.

But Republican Senators are planning to offer “infinite” amendments that are intended to help the fossil fuel industry, attack immigrants, LGBTQ Americans and more.

Most amendments can be blocked by the Senate Parliamentarian or a 40-vote filibuster. But in February, a dangerous number of Democrats betrayed their President, party, and commons sense by voting to support or even introduce pro-polluters amendments.

Click here to send your Senators a message that COVID relief should help people, not polluters.

Every time the Senate votes on a bill through the Reconciliation process – like this bill – something called a Vote-A-Rama happens. Time for debate is limited, but the number of amendments is not – resulting in a an all-night session where Senators offer lots of amendments and have very little time to consider them before voting. Right now the Senate is scheduled to hold vote-a-rama on President Biden’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Friday March 5.

And Republican Senators have already succeeded in using procedural gimmicks to slow dow the process and express their disdain for the President, Democrats, workers, immigrants, LGBTQ Americans and more. Senator Rand Paul evens says he wants to offer “infinite” amendments to block the bill.

Republican intransigence is no surprise – but in a February Vote-a-rama on an earlier version of this same bill, up to seven Senate Democrats supported Republican amendments that backed the Keystone Pipeline, fracking, and other fossil fuel bailouts.

With Republicans opposed to any COVID relief, we need all 50 Democrats to remain committed, and not vote to support any extraneous, pro-polluter amendments. Will you write your Senators now and tell them to pass a “clean” COVID relief bill that helps people, not polluters?