Some progressives including Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are pushing for Americans to receive $2,000 coronavirus relief checks instead of the proposed $1,400 with Senator Bernie Sanders is outraged at the idea of limiting the income requirement for check recipients.
AOC criticized her fellow lawmakers who are referring to $2,000 checks by combining the $600-per-person previously sent out under former President Donald Trump and the $1,400 proposal from President Joe Biden.
Some of the same folks who said “defunding huge PD budgets & shifting $ to schools is too hard to explain” are now saying “Well $1400 is actually $2k if you recall the $600 from a diff president, carry the 1- yes I know ads showed $2k checks, but thresholds-”
Just help people!
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 7, 2021
Sanders, the new chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, didn’t push back against Biden’s $1,400 check proposal but did insist that individuals making $75,000 and under remain eligible for assistance during an appearance on “State of the Union.”
“We said we’re going to get you $2,000, which is $600 plus $1,400, and what we’re going to do is say that everybody, a single person, individual, $75,000 or lower, and a couple of $150,000 or lower will be eligible for that $2,000 – $600 plus $1,400,” Sanders said on Sunday.
Unbelievable. There are some Dems who want to lower the income eligibility for direct payments from $75,000 to $50,000 for individuals, and $150,000 to $100,000 for couples. In other words, working class people who got checks from Trump would not get them from Biden. Brilliant!
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) February 7, 2021
“To say to a worker in Vermont or California or anyplace else that if you’re making $52,000 a year, you are too rich to get this help, the full benefit, I think that that’s absurd, and it’s also, from a political point of view, a little bit absurd that you would have, under Trump, these folks getting the benefit, but under Biden, who is fighting hard for the working class of this country, they would not get that full benefit,” Sanders continued.
Biden is reportedly open to compromising on the structure of stimulus checks in his proposed $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package. He told House Democrats on Wednesday that he is open to modifying the adjusted gross income thresholds for an additional round of direct payments – but he is holding steadfast to the $1,400 check amounts, according to Politico.
In a $600 billion counterproposal, Republicans offered up $1,000 payments targeted to low-income households.
“I think the checks should be $2,000. And they should be monthly. RT if you agree,” Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, wrote on Twitter on Saturday. His post received nearly 30,000 retweets.
I think the checks should be $2,000. And they should be monthly. RT if you agree.
— Tim Ryan (@TimRyan) February 6, 2021
Meanwhile, progressive Democrats continue to criticize Biden’s $1,400 payment checks.
