Biden's 1st 100 days live updates: Senate passes COVID relief bill along party lines

The Senate has begun voting on amendments to the COVID-19 relief bill as part of a vote-a-rama.

The first amendment up for voting, introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., would increase the minimum wage to $15 per hour over five years. Senators will vote on whether to even consider the amendment in a process vote, after Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., raised an objection to the amendment saying it was out of order in this fast-track reconciliation process. It would take 60 votes in the Senate to consider the amendment, something not likely to happen with the narrow Democratic majority.

"If people here want to vote against raising the minimum wage they have that right. ... But we should not shuffle off that responsibility to an unelected staffer. That's wrong," Sanders said, referring to the chamber's parliamentarian ruling that a straight increase of the hourly minimum to $15 was out of bounds under reconciliation.

Republicans have offered 1,008 other amendments to the bill.

-ABC News' Trish Turner

Senate Democrats have agreed to an extension in jobless benefits through September at a reduced amount of $300 a week in the COVID-19 relief bill, according to two Democratic aides. The House bill originally included weekly benefits of $400 through August.

The agreement also "provides tax relief to workers who received unemployment insurance compensation by making the first $10,200 of benefits non-taxable for the first time to prevent surprise bills for unemployed at end of year," according to a Democratic aide.

-ABC News' Trish Turner

In advance of Friday's vote-a-rama on the COVID-19 relief bill, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Democrats are prepared to press on without Republicans while Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell continued to characterize the bill as a "liberal wish list". 

"We are not going to be timid in the face of big challenges, we are not going to delay when urgent action is called for," Schumer said. "The Senate will move forward today with the American Rescue Plan."

Schumer set the stage for a long night but said the Senate will remain at it "no matter how long it takes." McConnell also hinted that it could take quite a while, with senators proposing various amendments, saying that Republicans "have many ideas to improve the bill, many ideas."

As he has in days past, McConnell again criticized Democrats for moving forward without GOP support. 

"This isn't a pandemic rescue package, it's a parade of left-wing pet projects they're ramming through during the pandemic," McConnell said. 

-ABC News' Allison Pecorin

Budget Chairman Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., appeared on the Senate floor in advance of Friday's vote-a-rama to introduce his amendment, which he'll offer later today, to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour. 

"Let’s be clear. This is the richest country in the history of the world," Sanders said. "We can no longer tolerate millions of our workers being unable to feed their families because they are working for starvation wages."

The amendment is similar to the language in the House-passed bill that was stripped from the Senate bill after the parliamentarian ruled it out of bounds. Sanders slammed the parliamentarians "misguided" decision requiring the minimum wage to be stripped from the budget bill but also railed against the Senate for giving such deference to the decision of an "unelected" official.

Sanders will offer the amendment during the vote-a-rama, though it is not expected to pass. 

-ABC News' Allison Pecorin