60 votes needed to move forward. On September 22, Larry Kudlow indicated that the White House was promoting a package focusing on "kids and jobs" which would include over $100 billion for schools and $100 billion for PPP. On October 20, the Senate voted on a bill providing $258 billion in PPP funding, but it failed to pass. The next day, the Senate voted on a $500 billion package; but it also failed to pass, lacking Democratic support. On December 1, Senate Democrats introduced a proposal to reinstate $600 weekly federal unemployment insurance (retroactively) from September 2020 until October 2021. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX), with McConnell's support, has proposed a plan which would prohibit states from hearing COVID-19-exposure business liability claims through 2024, imposing a one-year statute of limitations, and requiring plaintiffs to provide "clear and convincing evidence" that the exposure was the result of "gross negligence or willful misconduct" of the defendant. Such protections are opposed by Pelosi and many members of her caucus, the AFL–CIO union federation, a host of trial lawyers, and Public Citizen executive Lisa Gilbert, who argues: "The reason that [McConnell] has been so intent on this is that this is a pre-COVID priority for the big business lobby. They've been trying to find a way to get off the hook when they endanger workers, consumers, patients for many, many years [and this is a] self-serving opportunity moment for them ... in the context of COVID." 2021 On January 14, 2021, President-elect Joe Biden introduced a $1.9 trillion relief plan which would include $1,400 direct payments, weekly federal unemployment benefits, amongst other measures. The plan tentatively included an increase to the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025, but Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough ruled on February 25 that it did not comply with the Byrd Rule, which governs reconciliation. The Democrats used the procedure of reconciliation to circumvent a filibuster—expediting the approval of the bill's cost, while leaving room to negotiate amendments. On January 31, 2021, ten Senate Republicans announced a $600 billion counterproposal to Biden's proposed $1.9 trillion bill. On February 2, the Senate passed a budget resolution along party lines. On February 5, both houses of Congress passed the budget plan in party-line votes. The House Budget Committee combined separate aid bills into one piece of legislation on February 19. The bill was passed by the House on February 27 and