The latest on the Covid-19 stimulus bill

The Senate began a marathon effort to take up President Biden's $1.9 trillion pandemic relief bill.

Here's what to know about the process so far, and where things are headed:

CNN's Tami Luhby and Katie Lobosco contributed reporting to this post. 

Rep. Eric Swalwell, a Democrat from California, this afternoon accused Senate Republicans of pulling a "stunt" by insisting that the entire 628-page stimulus bill be read out loud on the Senate floor. 

GOP Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin objected to dispense the reading of the legislation, so the bill is being read now on the Senate floor by the chamber's clerk.

"Americans should see the bill," said Swalwell, speaking on CNN. "That's why it's posted online." 

Swalwell went on to say that the delay would directly hurt Americans who are eagerly awaiting relief.

"Every hour that stunts like this are pulled off is an hour that a hungry person is not fed and an unemployed person is not at work and someone in need of a vaccination like a teacher doesn't get it," he said.

Watch more:

GOP Sen. Ron Johnson objected to dispense the reading of the bill, so the legislation is now being read on the floor by the Senate clerk. It's 628 pages long.

Aides have said they expect it to take about 10 hours. 

You can follow along and read the full bill below:

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READ: Senate Democrats' Covid relief bill

The Senate successfully cleared a procedural vote to open debate on the $1.9 trillion Covid relief package. Vice President Kamala Harris cast the tie-breaking vote.

Now, we expect Sen. Ron Johnson, Republican from Wisconsin, will force a full reading of the 628-page bill, which could take about 10 hours.

Senate Democrats have released their version of the Covid relief bill. It's 628 pages long.

While the bill reflects similar priorities to the House bill and includes many of the same provisions, the Senate legislation differs in a few ways.

Here are some key differences:

Many of the changes in the Senate bill reflect weeks worth of conversations between Senate moderates and the White House with those talks intensifying in recent days.

Democratic moderates fought in the final days of these talks to include more money for broadband and for rural hospitals. The legislation also increased the funding for states that were hard hit by losses in revenue from tourism.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer had a difficult task. He had to win over support of all 50 members of his caucus. In order to pass the bill without Republican votes, he cannot lose a single one.

Read more about the Senate's bill here.

Alaska GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who has said she has not decided how she’ll vote on the relief package, voted against proceeding to the bill — a clear sign of where she is headed on this measure.

Senate Minority Whip John Thune said earlier Thursday that he didn’t know how Murkowski, who is up for reelection, will vote on the bill, but said he was “hopeful” she’ll stick with Republicans in opposing it. 

President Biden told reporters he was comfortable with limiting direct stimulus payments based on income in his administration’s Covid relief bill Thursday, adding he intended to continue outreach across the aisle in the hopes of getting bipartisan support. 

The Senate is voting now to open the debate on their version of the Covid-19 relief bill.

Biden agreed to a compromise with moderate Democrats to narrow the income eligibility for the next round of $1,400 stimulus checks included in the Senate bill, a Democratic source told CNN on Wednesday.

That means 7 million fewer families will receive a partial payment than would have under the House version of the bill, according to an estimate from the Penn Wharton Budget Model. The new proposal will completely cut off those who earn more than $160,000 a year and individuals who earn more than $80,000 a year.

The House legislation, which passed Saturday, set the income caps at $200,000 for couples and $100,000 for individuals.

On the subject at hand at today's White House event, Biden pointed to infrastructure as an area for bipartisan cooperation, telling lawmakers, “Infrastructure is, not only creates jobs, but it makes us a whole lot more competitive around the world, if we have the best infrastructure in the world.” 

Biden did not respond to shouted questions from the press pool if his next legislative priority would be an infrastructure package. 

The Senate is voting now to open the debate on their version of the Covid-19 relief bill.

What we know: It requires only 51 votes. Vice President Kamala Harris may be needed to break a tie. 

After they clear this procedural vote, then GOP Sen. Ron Johnson is expected to force a full reading of the bill.

An estimated 11.4 million workers will lose their unemployment benefits between mid-March and mid-April unless Congress passes its next coronavirus relief package quickly, a recent study by The Century Foundation found.

Some senators were looking to make some changes to the House bill, including reducing the federal boost to unemployment benefits to $300 a week and extending the duration of pandemic jobless programs by another month. But these efforts have not progressed.

The House bill calls for extending two key pandemic unemployment programs through August 29. It would also increase the federal weekly boost to $400, from the current $300, and continue it for the same time period.

It would lengthen the duration of the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program to up to 74 weeks, from 50 weeks, and the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation program to 48 weeks, from 24 weeks.

The former provides benefits to freelancers, gig workers, independent contractors and certain people affected by the pandemic, while the latter increases the duration of payments for those in the traditional state unemployment system.

The President's plan had called for continuing the benefits through the end of September.

Out-of-work Americans will start running out of Pandemic Unemployment Assistance and Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation benefits in mid-March, when provisions in December's $900 billion relief package begin phasing out.

The $300 enhancement also ends in mid-March.

Read more about what we know about the Senate stimulus bill here.