WTF Just Happened Today

Friday, March 5, 2021

Subscribe: Get the Daily Update in your inbox for free

1/ Senate Democrats agreed to lower the federal unemployment benefits to $300 a week – down from the $400 approved by the House – as part of the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package. Under the amendment, benefits would be extended through September instead of August, and the first $10,200 of unemployment benefits would be non-taxable income. The White House praised the agreement, with press secretary Jen Psaki tweeting that it would “provide more relief to the unemployed than the current legislation.” Passage of the relief bill, however, stalled for hours after Joe Manchin said he was unsatisfied with the concession. Manchin was also seen talking with Rob Portman, who has pushed an alternate unemployment amendment that would extend unemployment benefits at their current $300-per-week level into July, but without the new tax relief. The developments came as part of the Senate’s hours-long marathon of amendment votes on the relief package, known as a vote-a-rama, which followed Ron Johnson’s earlier demand that the clerks read the entire 628-page plan word by word. Meanwhile, seven Democrats joined with Republicans in voting down an effort by Bernie Sanders to restore raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour to the bill. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona voted down the minimum wage increase with a dramatic thumbs-down. (Wall Street Journal / Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / NPR / CNN / NBC News / Bloomberg)

• ???? Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”

• Global: Total confirmed cases: ~115,922,000; deaths: ~2,577,000

• U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~28,882,000; deaths: ~523,000; fully vaccinated: ~8.4%; partially vaccinated: ~16.3%

• Source: Johns Hopkins University / Washington Post

2/ Senate Democrats are reportedly warming to the idea of eliminating the filibuster as fears grow that Republicans will block Biden’s agenda, including his plans for climate change, immigration, gun control, voting rights, and LGBT protections. Pressure started building last week after the proposed minimum wage increase had to be removed from the coronavirus relief package, forcing the White House to cut deals. However, two Senate Democrats — Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema — have said they will oppose any effort to do away with the filibuster, which requ...

Visit WTF Just Happened Today? for more news and headlines, brought to you by Matt Kiser. The WTFJHT Podcast is narrated and produced by Joe Amditis.