Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer said the chamber would “power through and finish” passing the coronavirus relief bill, no matter how long it takes.
Because of the number of amendments that Republicans are expected to introduce, the final Senate passage of the bill likely won’t happen until sometime this weekend.
“The Senate is going to take a lot of votes. But we are going to power through and finish this bill, however long it takes,” Schumer said. “The American people are counting on us and our nation depends on it.”
Schumer also thanked the Senate clerks for reading the full text of the bill aloud, which took more than 10 hours and concluded early this morning.
The Senate usually skips reading the full text of the bill, but Republican Senator Ron Johnson objected to Schumer’s motion to dispense with the reading, forcing the clerks to read all 628 pages aloud.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you for your efforts yesterday and every day,” Schumer told the clerks today. He added this pointed remark to Johnson: “And, as for our friend from Wisconsin, I hope he enjoyed his Thursday evening.”
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