It did not take long after the inauguration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, and the Democrat win of the two Senate races from Georgia, for the tie-breaker to be needed.

On Friday the Senate approved a budget resolution for $1.9 trillion which will allow Democrats to get the bill passed through Congress sans any Republican support or threat of a filibuster, The New York Post reported.

Harris, as the President of the Senate, was able to break a 50 – 50 ties along party lines to give Democrats the important win.

That means the Democrats are going to be able to pass the relief package in the budget resolution which means that the Republicans cannot stop it via filibuster.

“I am so thankful that our caucus stayed together in unity. We had no choice given the problems facing America and the desire to move forward. And we have moved forward,” Senate Majority Leader and New York Sen. Charles Schumer said. “Many bipartisan amendments were adopted, so this was a bipartisan activity.”

“We cannot underscore enough how much help America needs during this awful crisis and we cannot miss the point that we still have a long way to go. This was a giant first step … to bring America back, to overcome this horrible crisis and then move America forward,” he said.

Democrats had flexed their muscle by offering an amendment reversing some earlier votes about the future of the Keystone XL pipeline and coronavirus aid to immigrants living illegally in the US.

Senate Minority Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) indicated earlier that Republicans would try to extract concessions from Democrats in uncomfortable votes.

“We’re going to put senators on the record,” the Kentucky senator said. “Expect votes to stop Washington from actively killing jobs during a recovery — like terminating the Keystone pipeline; that job-killing, one-size-fits-all minimum wage hike; and whether to bar tax hikes on small businesses for the duration of this emergency.”

In a tweet after the vote Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders celebrated the victory.

“Today, with the passage of this budget resolution to provide relief to our working families, we have the opportunity not only to address the pandemic and the economic collapse – we have the opportunity to give hope to the American people and restore faith in our government,” he said.