President-elect Joe Biden’s new economic relief plan, due to be released on Thursday, may include $ 2,000 stimulus checks for eligible Americans.
Biden always said that another stimulus package was a high priority for his government. Getting support for the new package may be easier when Democrats take control of the U.S. Senate, an event that won’t happen until Georgia’s new Democratic senators are sworn in in January this year. Biden said on Monday that he had discussed his new stimulus proposal with Republican Party members, suggesting a desire for bipartisan support for the package.
“My priority is to get, firstly, the approval of a stimulus project and, secondly, to rebuild the economy,” said Biden. “I have been talking to some of my Republican colleagues about whether to move on to a second package sooner or later.”
While details of the new stimulus package have not been released by Biden’s transition team, some observers hope that it will include an extension of increased unemployment payments and financing for the delivery and dissemination of COVID-19 vaccines.
Although Democrats Jon Ossoff and Reverend Raphael Warnock defeated their Republican opponents in Georgia’s special election in January, Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has until January 22 to officially certify the election results. When that happens, Democrats will have 50 seats in the Senate. Vice-president-elect Kamala Harris, in her role as president of the Senate, is expected to cast all the tiebreakers votes, which would give Democrats the advantage in the Senate.
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Biden expressed support for the $ 600 checks in December, but said more relief was needed, describing the proposal as “an important advance on what will have to be done from late January to February”.
In a campaign speech in January on behalf of Warnock and Ossoff, Biden said his election would speed up delivery of the $ 2,000 checks.
“If you send Jon and the reverend to Washington,” said Biden, “those $ 2,000 checks will come out the door, restoring the hope, decency and honor of so many people who are fighting now.”
Biden warned during a news conference in January that his stimulus package would come at a high price. According to Biden, economists said “we should invest significant amounts of money now” to avoid a collapse of the US economy in the future.
There is still opposition to higher direct payments. West Virginia Democratic deputy Joe Manchin said during an interview on Sunday with CNN that he did not support “sending checks to people who already have a check”. If Manchin decides to vote against Biden’s proposal, then at least one Republican senator would have to side with Democrats for Biden’s proposal to pass.
Republican Senators Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Marco Rubio of Florida supported direct payments of $ 2,000 after President Donald Trump called for the highest stimulus checks in December. The approval of a stand-alone bill that would have allowed $ 2,000 stimulus payments was blocked by Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell.
Newsweek contacted Biden’s transition team for comment.