The Senate reconvened at 10:30 A.M. and resumed work on the Continuing Resolution to March 11th. As part of a deal to speed up the continuing resolution, Republicans want votes on two amendments to defund President Biden’s vaccine mandates although senators have made similar efforts during the previous short-term spending bills, and they’ve fallen short. But Democrats appear to be short the votes needed to defeat the amendments, which would need only a simple majority to be added to the CR. Three Democratic senators missed votes on Wednesday: Senator Ben Ray Luján (D-New Mexico), who recently suffered a stroke, and Senators Mark Kelly (D-Arizona) and Dianne Feinstein (D-California), who are both dealing with family medical emergencies. But any changes to the CR by the Senate would force it to go back to the House, which is in the middle of a two-week recess and where Democrats are unlikely to support a funding bill that defunds President Biden’s vaccination requirements. In addition to the absences, senators are also trying to resolve Sen. Marco Rubio’s (R-Florida) hold on quick passage of the funding bill. Rubio wants a vote on his bill — or to pass it by unanimous consent, which requires the support of all 100 senators — that would prohibit federal funding from going toward crack pipes and other drug paraphernalia in exchange for speeding up the CR. But Rubio’s hold on the funding bill, which would keep the government open through March 11, comes after senators resolved a standoff with Tennessee Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn, who had also pledged to block quick passage of the CR unless she got more information from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that it wouldn’t use federal funding on crack pipes or other drug paraphernalia.
As negotiations continue and things remain fluid, the Senate is expected to spend the remainder of today on the continuing resolution.
