How the $1.9trn stimulus plan will be trimmed by senators

IT LOOKED LIKE good timing at first. On February 27th the House of Representatives passed the maiden legislative hope of President Joe Biden, a behemoth $1.9trn package for covid-19 relief. It was speedy because it was unimpeded by any serious bipartisan negotiating—the legislation mirrored the White House’s proposal almost exactly, with not one Republican vote to show for it. That left more than two weeks for the Senate to pass the proposal before a self-imposed March 14th deadline, when emergency federal unemployment benefits for 11m Americans from the last round of stimulus will start to expire. Unfortunately for the president, smooth-sailing legislation has a habit of getting stuck in the Senate. A brittle Democratic majority and obscure parliamentary procedures in the chamber promise a lengthier drama.

Perfect party unity among Democrats would be needed to achieve a simple majority in the Senate. (It would be an unexpected coup for Mr Biden if even a single Republican voted in favour.) For normal legislation, that would spell instant defeat because of the filibuster, a parliamentary procedure that raises the effective threshold for passage to 60 votes out of 100. To get round this, Democrats are using a special procedure known as budget reconciliation. Reconciliation is filibuster-proof—but at a high cost. Legislation must pass a...