- AOC criticized Biden’s decision to restrict eligibility for a third stimulus check as “a goal against.”
- Individuals earning $ 75,000 or less must receive the full check, but those earning more than $ 80,000 no longer qualify.
- Biden’s movement has drawn criticism from other progressives as well.
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Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez condemned the “conservative” Democratic senators who pressured her party to limit eligibility for a new set of $ 1,400 stimulus checks under President Joe Biden’s aid package.
Biden endorsed the proposal for a faster elimination of $ 1,400 stimulus checks to prevent higher earners from receiving a third direct payment, two Democratic aides told Insider on Wednesday. Checks are an important part of the $ 1.9 trillion relief legislation that the Senate will pass.
“Conservative Dems fought for administrator Biden to send less and less generous relief checks than administrator Trump did,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted on Wednesday afternoon. “It is a movement that makes little or no political or economic sense, and aims at an element of relief that is more tangibly felt by ordinary people. A goal against.”
Some other progressive Democrats in the House also expressed frustration with the negotiation of the stimulus check. The Senate could give an initial vote on the $ 1.9 trillion aid package on Wednesday.
—Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) March 3, 2021
Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, president of House Progressive Caucus, said she was not satisfied with the smaller individual checks. And Representative Mark Pocan called the compromise agreement “Senate nonsense”.
“I don’t like it being restricted,” said Jayapal on Wednesday. “I feel that survival tests are the easiest, simplest, most popular and populist proposal.”
But many Democratic senators see the move as a necessary compromise.
“I think it is an appropriate way to bring this to a successful conclusion,” Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet told reporters on Wednesday.
The House passed the relief bill on Saturday, with higher eligibility limits for individuals and couples, maintaining the same income limits as previous pandemic aid packages.
But moderate Senate Democrats have pressured Biden to restrict eligibility in recent days.
Individuals earning $ 75,000 or less must receive the full check, but those who earn $ 80,000 or more no longer qualify. Couples who earn $ 150,000 or less will receive full payment, but those who earn $ 160,000 or more no longer qualify.
A preliminary analysis by the left-leaning Institute of Taxation and Economic Policy indicates that about 16 million fewer Americans do not qualify for a third check under the new design of the plan, compared to the version of the House bill .