President-elect Joe Biden on Friday called for the increase in the most recent payments to $ 2,000 as part of the next coronavirus stimulus project.
“We need more direct help flowing to families and small businesses, including finishing the job and getting $ 2,000 in aid,” said Biden in Delaware. “Six hundred dollars is simply not enough when you have to choose between paying the rent or putting food on the table and keeping the lights on.”
But at least one key Democrat is not so passionate about the idea, saying that the top priority should be to vaccinate Americans.
If there are checks, US Senator Joe Manchin, DW. Va., I told the Washington Post, they needed to be targeted at those in need.
“If they can direct money and say, ‘This will help stimulate the economy’, of course I am in favor,” Manchin told the newspaper. “But basically, now, it’s better to get them vaccinated.”
Since the base is much larger than with $ 600 checks, a family of four, who would start with $ 8,000 in stimulus checks, would have to make $ 310,000 before the entire payment was finished, according to calculations by the Center for Responsible Federal Expenses. For a family with five children, the cut would be $ 430,000.
What makes Manchin’s vote so crucial is that Senate Democrats can get around an obstruction and approve the highest checks with just 51 instead of 60 votes, and he is one of 51. So, if he is a no, the New Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, of New York would need to find at least one Republican to approve the bill.
Of course, this may not be a problem, as several Republican Party senators supported the $ 2,000 payments after President Donald Trump asked for them, but outgoing majority leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Refused to allow a vote.
Both Biden and Schumer endorsed Trump’s call for higher checks.
Now that he will decide which projects reach the floor, Schumer said that approving bigger checks is “one of the first things I want to do”, after the victories in the two Senate contests for Georgia earlier this month gave Democrats their first Senate majority since 2015, thanks to the tie-breaking vote of new Vice President Kamala Harris.
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Democrats could also try to get the 60 votes needed to pass the bill under regular procedures with the support of Republican senators, led by Josh Hawley of Missouri, who demanded higher pay. Without Manchin, but with all the other Democrats on board, Schumer would need 11 of the 50 Republicans.
Manchin was part of a bipartisan group of senators and representatives, including Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-5th District, which developed a $ 908 billion plan that ended up starting negotiations on the final project to stimulate the coronavirus.
That legislation did not include stimulus checks, which were added after Senate Republicans refused to support federal aid for states and municipalities.
The IRS is currently sending payments of $ 600, either through direct deposit or prepaid debit cards.
Jonathan D. Salant can be contacted at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant.
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