STIMULUS ELIGIBILITY SCALED BACK
Biden, moderate Democrats agree to narrow limits
President Joe Biden has agreed to narrow eligibility for a new round of $1,400 stimulus payments in his $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill, a concession to moderate Senate Democrats as party leaders moved Wednesday to lock down support and finalize the sweeping legislation.
Under the new structure, the checks would phase out faster for those at higher income levels, compared to the way the direct payments were structured in Biden’s initial proposal and the version of the bill passed by the House on Saturday.
The change came as the Senate prepared to take an initial procedural vote to move forward on the bill as early as today. Biden and Senate Democratic leaders were scrambling to keep their caucus united since they cannot lose a single Democrat in the 50-50 Senate if Republicans unite against the legislation.
In addition to the stimulus checks, the sweeping economic package would also extend unemployment benefits through August, as well as set aside $350 billion for state and local aide; $130 billion for schools; $160 billion for vaccinations, testing and other health care system support; increase the child tax credit; and spend billions more on a variety of other provisions including rental aid and food assistance.
Biden made a closing pitch for the package to House Democrats on Wednesday evening, citing public polling in favor of the measure and telling them: “I know parts of this and everything else we seek to do are not easy, but people are going to remember how we showed up in this moment, how we listened to them ... and how we took action.”
At least one Senate Republican, Lisa Murkowksi of Alaska, appeared open to considering a vote in favor of the legislation, telling reporters, “My state needs relief.”
Elsewhere, though, GOP opposition was hardening, as Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., announced plans to force Senate officials to read the entire 600-page-plus bill aloud before debate could even begin — a process he predicted would take around 10 hours.
“I don’t want to sound like a leftist, but I’m gonna resist,” Johnson told a talk radio host in Wisconsin.
The action in the Senate was unfolding against a backdrop of tightened security around the Capitol complex, as the sergeant-at-arms and
the Capitol Police warned of potential violent unrest over the coming days. The House moved up votes to allow members to avoid the Capitol today, the day some conspiracy theorists have identified as when former president Donald Trump should rightfully be inaugurated. The Senate is scheduled to remain at work.
Under the plan for stimulus checks passed by the House, individuals earning up to $75,000 per year and couples making up to $150,000 per year would qualify for the full $1,400 payment.
The size of the payments would then begin to scale down before zeroing out for individuals making $100,000 per year and couples making $200,000.
Under the changes agreed to by Biden and Senate Democratic leadership, individuals earning $75,000 per year and couples earning $150,000 would still receive the full $1,400-per-person benefit. However, the benefit would disappear for individuals earning more than $80,000 annually and couples earning more than $160,000.
That means singles making between $80,000 and $100,000 and couples earning between $160,000 and $200,000 would be newly excluded from seeing any benefit under the revised structure Biden agreed to.
The changes were confirmed by a Democratic aide who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal deliberations.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden has always been open to a faster phaseout for higherearning individuals and “he is comfortable with where the negotiations stand.”
“He is comfortable and knows there will be tweaks on the margin,” Psaki said during Wednesday’s White House briefing. “What his firm viewpoint is, is that it needs to meet the scope of the challenge, it needs to be the size he’s proposed, it needs to have the core components in order to have the impact on the American people.”
Narrowing eligibility for the stimulus checks was just one change moderates like Sens. Jeanne Shaheen, DN.H., and Joe Manchin, DW.Va., had been seeking. Several were also eyeing better targeting money for state and local governments, and changing the structure of weekly federal unemployment benefits in the bill, to keep them at the current level of $300 rather than raise them to $400 as proposed by Biden and passed by the House.
Senate Democrats do not intend to adopt the suggested change to unemployment benefits, and they will stay at $400-per-week, the aide said.
The House Oversight Committee is investigating the agency that operates the Texas power grid, seeking information and documents about the lack of preparation for the recent winter storm that caused millions of power outages and dozens of deaths across the state.
Rep. Ro Khanna, a California Democrat who chairs an environment subcommittee, sent a letter to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, saying he is concerned that the loss of electric service — “and the resulting human suffering, deaths and economic costs” — will happen again unless ERCOT and the state of Texas adequately prepare for a predicted increase in extreme weather events.
Severe winter storms in Texas “have occurred repeatedly over decades, and ERCOT has been unprepared for them,” Khanna wrote in a letter to ERCOT CEO Bill Magness. The group’s own consultant has predicted that severe winter weather events will continue to occur every decade, yet ERCOT and state officials have done little to prepare for them or build appropriate infrastructure, Khanna said.
“The failures of ERCOT and the state of Texas were costly,” he wrote. At least 49 Texans have died, and more than 4.5 million people experienced power outages
“Homeowners, renters and businesses face steep expenses to fix damage from frozen and burst pipes, with the Texas Insurance Council estimating that claims could be more than $20 billion,” Khanna wrote. Total economic losses in Texas
could reach $50 billion.
Because Texas is not connected to the national grid, “ERCOT has limited ability to import electricity from outside of the state,” Khanna noted, adding that nearby regions, such as El Paso, experienced the same extreme temperatures but fewer disruptions.
Last month’s storm followed similar winter storms in 1989 and 2011 that also caused massive outages, Khanna said. “It appears that lessons learned (again) in 2011 were not implemented either, leaving Texas vulnerable to extreme winter weather again in 2021,” he wrote.
The subcommittee requested documents from ERCOT by March 17 related to its preparedness for extreme weather events; decisions on where and when to implement rolling blackouts; and the disruption of electricity supply in the midFebruary storm.
A spokeswoman for ERCOT said officials received the letter and will respond to the subcommittee.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, has blamed the power failures on ERCOT. But a three-member utility commission appointed by Abbott has oversight authority over the grid operator. The utility commission’s chair resigned last week, and at least six ERCOT board members have also resigned in the wake of the power failure, one of the largest in U.S. history.
ERCOT officials have said the entire grid — which is uniquely isolated from the rest of the U.S. — was on the brink of collapse in the early hours of Feb. 15 as power plants froze in the cold and record demand for electricity to heat homes overwhelmed the system.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said last week that it is examining possible market manipulation on wholesale natural gas and electricity markets during the severe winter storms, which knocked out power to millions of people from Texas to North Dakota and resulted in at least 86 deaths nationwide.
The inquiry follows reports of wild price swings in the wholesale natural gas and electricity markets amid the storms. Natural gas spot prices spiked as high as 100 times typical levels, forcing utilities and other natural gas users to incur exorbitant costs, many of which were passed on to customers.