- House Democrats released a stimulus bill Monday night.
- He maintained the stimulus check limits set out in Biden’s bailout package, a rejection of pressure from some Democrats to restrict who can receive a full check.
- House Democrats are running to put Biden’s stimulus plan on the floor by the end of the month.
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House Democrats released a stimulus plan to keep the income limit for stimulus checks at $ 75,000 for individual taxpayers and $ 150,000 for couples, rejecting an attempt by some Senate Democrats to drastically limit who can receive a direct payment .
Representative Richard Neal of Massachusetts, chairman of the House Forms and Resources Committee, presented the proposal ahead of the committee’s expected work. It may still change as committees begin to turn Biden’s bailout plan into legislation in the next two weeks.
“Our nation is struggling, the virus has not yet been contained and the American people are counting on Congress to address this moment with bold and immediate action,” said Neal in a statement.
The proposal would distribute payments to individual taxpayers who earn $ 75,000 or less, along with couples who earn $ 150,000 or less – the same parameters as President Joe Biden’s $ 1.9 trillion aid package.
However, the legislation increases the rate of reduction in payments. Single filers who earn $ 100,000 annually and joint filers who earn $ 200,000 would no longer be eligible to receive federal money.
The initial impetus appears to be building behind pressure from Democrats to maintain the existing income limits for checks that Biden set in his financial aid package. Some centrists, like Senator Joe Manchin, favor tightening check eligibility to ensure that the wealthiest people who have not suffered job losses cannot receive them.
But it generated resistance among many Democrats, including Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon. Senator Raphael Warnock of Georgia became the latest Democratic senator to oppose the reduction of checks in an interview with Insider.
“I think people making $ 75,000 in Georgia are struggling in many cases,” he said on Monday, adding that he was committed to “getting help from as many people as quickly as possible.”
The Biden plan includes checks for $ 1,400, federal unemployment benefits of $ 400, assistance to state and local governments, enhanced child tax credit and vaccine distribution funds, among other provisions. The White House said it is open to negotiating check limits, but has not yet defined them.
“There is a discussion now about what that limit will look like,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Monday. “A conclusion has not been finalized.”
A group of Senate Republicans also supported restricting check revenue limits, a change that possibly excludes at least 29 million families who are eligible to receive a check under the Biden plan.
Wyden said in a statement that he would push for six months of rising unemployment insurance after the Democratic House plan cut a month of unemployment benefits.
“Relief checks and unemployment benefits are the most tangible parts of the economic relief package for those struggling to survive,” he said.
Democrats are setting a quick timetable for approving coronavirus relief using the reconciliation process. It is a maneuver that allows a bill to pass the Senate with only 51 votes, instead of the 60 normally required.
During the Senate vote last week, both Democrats and Republicans passed a non-binding amendment that prohibits stimulus checks from wealthy families. The non-binding amendment introduced by Senator Susan Collins of Maine and Manchin did not specify an income amount.
Democratic-led committees will begin to draft legislation for Biden’s plan in the next two weeks, with the goal of a plenary vote sometime in the week of February 22. Then the bill would go to the Senate for approval and, eventually, to Biden’s desk for his signature.
Other pieces of legislation that were introduced on Monday include a $ 15 minimum wage, emergency funding for schools and universities and other pandemic-related benefits.
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