The U.

S Senate on Thursday voted along party lines to take up President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion coronavirus aid bill.

The vice president votes in the affirmative, and the motion to proceed is agreed to.

And with that, a likely days long debate over the sweeping package begins.

Democrats can expect very little Republican support, if any, for the measure, which Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said contained too many unrelated provisions.

All that interested Democrats was a partisan hodgepodge of largely non covid related items.

The relief bill is Biden's top legislative priority and includes funding for vaccines, extends jobless benefits, provides more aid to households, small businesses and state and local governments Accept.

Republican Senator John Kennedy pushed back on the size.

Maybe together we can make this bill better and get rid of some of the spending porn, as I call it, and do the job that the American people, um, sent us here today.

But before any of that could begin, Republicans had arranged a reading of the more than 600 page bill.

Section two, table of contents, a process that could take 10 hours or so.

Section 1007 Senate Democrats have tweaked the House bill to ensure that all 50 of their members in the 100 seat chamber support the package, allowing it with the help of Vice President Kamala Harris to pass without any Republican supports.

Section 11 0 to a final vote could come over the weekend.

Opinion polls indicate broad public supports three additional funding.