Stimulus check debate focuses on income
WASHINGTON — The White House is open to narrowing eligibility for the next round of stimulus payments but not lowering those payments below $1,400 per person, according to a White House spokeswoman.
Congressional Republicans and even some centrist Democrats have in recent days raised concerns that President Joe Biden’s proposal to send another round of stimulus checks would give government aid to affluent Americans who do not need it.
Biden has publicly expressed willingness to negotiate the stimulus payments, which under Democrats’ current plans would begin to diminish at $75,000 for individuals and couples making $150,000 a year. Biden is also aiming to provide $1,400 per every adult and child under that threshold, on top of the $600 per adult and child approved by Congress in December.
A group of 10 Senate Republicans trying to strike a bipartisan compromise on a stimulus plan has proposed both lowering the income thresholds on the payments to $50,000 for individuals and $100,000 for couples and reducing the size of the checks from $1,400 to $1,000.
During the bipartisan meeting at the White House on Monday, White House officials expressed openness to lowering the income threshold on the payments but will not accept reducing the size of the checks, two people briefed on the discussions said. These people spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations with White House staff.
Still, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki added at her press briefing on Tuesday that Biden is wary of limiting the income thresholds on the payments too dramatically.
For instance, she said Biden believes a nurse and a teacher jointly earning $120,000 a year in Biden’s hometown of Scranton, Pa., still “should get a check.” Biden reiterated this commitment in a meeting with White House aides on Tuesday, she said.
While campaigning in the Senate runoffs in Georgia in January, Biden vowed $2,000 stimulus payments would be sent “immediately” if Democrats secured control of the Senate. The two newly elected Democratic senators from the state, Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, both urged Democrats to quickly pass the stimulus payments in an internal caucus call of congressional Democrats.
It is unclear how many Republicans in the group of 10 would vote for increasing the stimulus payments to $2,000.
The Republican lawmakers involved in the centrist group are skeptical of the stimulus checks but included an increase in the payment as a way to demonstrate their good-faith intention to work with Biden on his priorities, one person familiar with the matter said. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., the most centrist Democratic senator, has also publicly raised concerns about the efficacy of the checks.
Biden’s plan would provide stimulus payments to about 95 percent of the country, while the Republican plan, lowering the threshold to those making under $50,000 a year, would provide payments to about 70 percent of the country, according to preliminary estimates of the proposals by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a left-leaning think tank. Roughly 80 million fewer people would receive them under the GOP offer, the institute found.
The Republican plan would also be less expensive, spending $220 billion on the payments compared with the $465 billion under Biden’s plan.
The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy also previously found that Biden’s plan would amount to a 29 percent increase in the annual income of the poorest 20 percent of Americans.