The White House approved a proposal by the center Democrats in Congress to reduce the number of people receiving the next round of checks, according to several reports.
According to the Associated Press and the Washington Post, the next COVID-19 relief bill will move away from previous stimulus payments, as individuals who made between $ 80,000 and $ 100,000 in their most recent tax return will no longer be eligible. Previously, those who earn up to $ 100,000 would be eligible for at least part of the payment.
The plan would also eliminate payments for couples who earn more than $ 160,000, down from $ 200,000 in previous accounts.
Despite the bill’s popularity in the polls, Republicans have held a united front against the White House’s $ 1.9 trillion aid package, and it is expected to win little or no Republican Party votes. A version that passed the House last week did so without Republican support.
Republicans argue that current legislation spends a lot of money unrelated to the bill’s stated purpose, and a group of more moderate Republican lawmakers has proposed a less than $ 600 billion aid package.
Democratic legislation needs to appease all 50 senators to pass, and the new restrictions on who can get relief checks are seen as a compromise with the more moderate members of the caucus.
“I think we could reduce it to less than $ 200,000 and still get families who really need it,” said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, DN.H. earlier this week.
Progressives argued that segmenting payments based on 2019 income tax records could hurt Americans who have lost their jobs since the last lawsuit. A Senate Finance Committee spokesman told Yahoo News that eligibility would depend on the timing of each individual’s final vote and tax declaration, saying: “If you file your taxes at the time a relief bill is approved, the IRS would use your 2020 income – not your 2019 income – when sending aid payments. ”
Democrats expect the bill to be enacted by March 14, when the expansion of unemployment payments is due to expire. According to reports, the White House has refused to reduce payments from $ 400 to $ 300 a week, as requested by moderate lawmakers. The legislation should also include funding for vaccine distribution, schools and state and local governments.
Biden was criticized by some on the left for what they describe as a broken promise to send $ 2,000 relief checks, which Democrats campaigned heavily on the eve of the January US Senate election in Georgia. The White House counters that the $ 1,400 checks included in its current package amount to $ 2,000 when added to the $ 600 checks approved by the last Congress in December.
With the stricter restrictions, it is likely that some Americans who received multiple aid checks during the pandemic when President Donald Trump was in office will receive nothing from the current Democratic package.
A February poll from Yahoo News / YouGov revealed that most Americans supported Biden’s proposals, with 74% supporting checks for $ 2,000, compared with just 13% against that amount. The survey also found that 58% supported raising the minimum wage – a provision that was removed from the current aid package, much to the dismay of progressives – compared with 31% who opposed doing so.
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