Steven T. Dennis

The Senate Republican leader ripped the president's plan to end a tax break that lets the richest Americans transfer much of their wealth tax-free at death.

President Joe Biden is on the cusp of his first legislative win with the House ready to give final passage to his $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief plan. It includes a big expansion in the child tax credit and makes student loan forgiveness tax free.

Senator Elizabeth Warren said IRS funding should be bolstered so the richest Americans get audited about once every three years as part of her proposed 2 percent annual tax on wealth in excess of $50 million.

Senate Democrats are jettisoning a proposal to penalize corporations that don’t raise the minimum wage for their lowest-paid workers in an effort to keep President Biden’s broader stimulus plan on track.

Two Senate committee chiefs are looking at ways to raise taxes on companies paying workers less than $15 an hour, as part of a new strategy to include President Joe Biden’s push to boost the minimum wage to that level in his COVID-19 aid bill.

The Senate voted 51-50, after Vice President Kamala Harris broke her first tie, to adopt a budget blueprint for President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion virus relief package — following nearly 15 hours of wading through amendments from both parties.

Democrats’ go-it-alone stimulus plan faces night of GOP sniping

Senate leaders will be trying to hold their parties together for a vote Thursday to advance a slimmed-down stimulus bill that Democrats have already rejected, with both sides jockeying for advantage in public perceptions two months before the election.

White House and Democratic negotiators driving toward a deal on a final massive virus relief package by the end of the week still must overcome a raw mix of election-year pressures, internal GOP splits and a profound lack of trust between the parties.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell waited until a key component of U.S. coronavirus aid was about to expire before drafting the Republican version of the next major relief bill, a decision that is increasingly looking like a significant miscalculation.