Biden signs off on income limits for stimulus checks
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden has signed off on a Democratic plan to further limit the next round of stimulus payments, a crucial concession to moderates whose votes he needs to push through his $1.9 trillion pandemic aid package.
The proposal would disqualify individuals earning more than $80,000 — and households whose incomes exceed $160,000 — from receiving stimulus checks of up to $1,400, lowering the income caps by $20,000 from the last round of direct payments and from the version of the aid plan passed over the weekend by the House.
The tentative agreement was detailed Wednesday by a Democrat familiar with
the details, who disclosed them on condition of anonymity. It was under discussion as Democratic leaders pressed to find the 50 votes they will need to push through the stimulus measure in the face of unified Republican opposition.
Like the House bill, the proposal under discussion would send $1,400 checks to people earning up to $75,000 and households earning up to $150,000, with those earning more money receiving smaller payments. But the House bill would have capped the income level for receiving a check at $100,000 for individuals and $200,000 for households.
The lower caps being discussed in the Senate, if they were adopted, would mean that some people who got a check during the Trump administration will not get one under Biden.
But Senate Democrats have agreed to the House-passed proposal to provide a $400 weekly federal unemployment payment through the end of August, rejecting a bid by some moderate senators to keep the weekly benefit at the current amount of $300 per week.
The private haggling between Biden and Senate Democrats over the details of the $1.9 trillion stimulus plan underscored the challenge of steering it through the evenly divided Senate, where Democratic leaders cannot afford a single defection. With unemployment benefits set to begin lapsing March 14, Senate Democrats are working to pass the legislation by the weekend, with the first votes to advance it coming as early as Wednesday.
Liberal lawmakers are frustrated over the decision to drop a minimum-wage increase from the package, after a key Senate official ruled it out of bounds and moderates in the chamber said they would not support it. The centrists, who spoke privately with Biden earlier this week, have also been pushing to narrow other elements of the stimulus plan.
Biden sought to rally Democratic senators around the package Tuesday, joining their weekly lunchtime meeting by phone and urging them to stick together to reject attempts by Republicans to inject changes when the Senate considers the bill that could kill its chances of passage.
“The public really needs it. This plan is composed of the right elements. It’s popular. Republicans like it. Republican mayors and governors like it. The bill will be chock-full of things that Republicans have asked for,” Sen. Tim Kaine, D-VA., said, recounting the message from the president . “So, you know, let’s do it.”