President Biden said in a call to House Democrats on Wednesday that he was committed to raising stimulus checks to $ 2,000 by giving most Americans another $ 1,400 in direct payments in a new round of coronavirus relief.
However, Biden has slammed the door on tightening revenue restrictions on which Americans are eligible to receive the checks. Under the emergency relief package passed by Congress late last year, individuals earning less than $ 75,000 and couples earning less than $ 150,000 received the full payment of $ 600.
“We can not walk away from an additional $ 1400 in direct checks that we proposed because the people need them,” Biden said in a call to Democrats.
“We can better target them,” he said, “but I’m not going to start my government by breaking a promise to the American people.”
He did not ask any questions during the five-minute call, but urged House Democrats to go ‘big, not small’ on a new COVID-19 relief package – the first major legislative push of his presidency.
Biden also called on the Democrats to continue selling their nearly $ 2 trillion stimulus plan to the American people, and he made clear that the move to the $ 618 billion plan presented by 10 GOP senators was, was not in the card.
‘I’ll have your back. “I ask that you have mine,” said Biden.
The president is expected to visit the Senate Democrats in the White House later on Wednesday to build support for his $ 1.9 billion health and economic relief package, called the US bailout plan.
In addition to the larger stimulus controls, Biden’s proposal includes $ 400 billion for more vaccines, testing and other measures to combat the coronavirus pandemic and to help reopen schools; $ 350 billion for cities, states and tribal governments; billions more for small businesses, rental assistance and rising unemployment insurance; and raises the federal minimum wage to $ 15 per hour.
Democrats and the Senate are expected to pass a budget resolution this week that will give them the ability to pass a massive COVID-19 package by the Senate with just a simple majority later this month. This would be crucial given the split of the Senate 50-50.
While Biden’s stimulus plan is expected to pass through the House, it already faces some obstacles in the Senate, where sen. Joe Manchin
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‘If the package contains a minimum wage, I suspect Manchin is a hard no. I also expect more purposeful direct investigations, ”said one moderate House Democrat. ‘Other than that, I see nothing stopping the package from moving through [the Congress] fairly seamless. ”
Updated at 11:42