Senator Cynthia Lummis (Wyoming) criticized President Biden and Senate Democrats following their decision to use a procedural maneuver to bypass the democratic process and lay the groundwork to ram through a coronavirus relief bill.
Sen. Lummis said:
“Only weeks after Democrats and Republicans came together for the fifth time in less than a year to pass bipartisan coronavirus relief legislation, ‘Unity’ President Joe Biden chose the partisan path. Even after an Oval Office meeting with Republican senators, President Biden pushed forward with a legislative plan to ignore Republicans and ram a progressive wishlist through the Senate. With $4 trillion previously allocated and billions in relief left unspent, Joe Biden could pause to assess the situation, and work with Republicans to send targeted relief where it’s needed. Instead, the ‘unity’ president and Democrats in the Senate are choosing division and partisanship. Families, businesses and communities in Wyoming deserve better.”
Instead of using the normal bipartisan Senate process to pass a bill, President Biden and Senate Democrats used their razor-thin majority to pass a budget resolution under the Congressional Budget Act to set spending levels for the federal government over the coming decade. Passage of a budget resolution is the only procedural way for Senate Democrats to pass a coronavirus bill in the coming weeks without negotiating with Republicans.
Sen. Lummis submitted 19 amendments to the bill, including the POWER Act in the form of an amendment, which would lift the Biden ban on new oil and gas leases on federal lands.
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