Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) speaks at the confirmation hearing before Secretary of Energy nominee Jennifer Granholm before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on Capitol Hill on Jan. 27, 2021 in Washington, DC.
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Senator Bernie Sanders said on Sunday that he opposes lowering the income threshold for receiving $ 1,400 in direct payments in the next bill for coronavirus relief, underlining Democrats must seek a solution before they get the $ 1.9 trillion package. can pass on.
The most conservative member of the caucus in Senator Joe Manchin, DW.V., has expressed concern that stimulus checks, such as those currently targeted, would go to too many high-income people who did not lose their jobs during the pandemic. President Joe Biden has said he is open to negotiating the option of payments, which, as suggested, would go entirely to individuals making up to $ 75,000 and couples making up to $ 150,000.
Sanders, an independent Vermont and chair of the Senate Committee on Budgets, and some colleagues have argued that Democrats shouldn’t lower the income ceiling. Check eligibility has emerged as the main sticking point within the party as it tries to pass a bailout package with no Republican votes in the Senate.
A single violation would sink the bill.
Sanders told CNN he supports a “strong cliff” for payments “so it doesn’t spill over to people making $ 300,000 a year.” As modeled now, the plan would phase out controls at 5% of every dollar a person earns above the limit to receive the full amount.
“And that’s what I support, that’s what I think most people understand,” Sanders said of phasing out payments more quickly. “But to say to a worker in Vermont or California or anywhere that if, you know, you make $ 52,000 a year, you’re too rich to get this aid, the full benefit, I think that’s absurd.”
Reports have suggested Democrats could start phasing out deposits for $ 50,000 in income for individuals instead of $ 75,000.
In his committee post, Sanders will play a key role in preparing the account and ensuring that it complies with the budget reconciliation process. The tool allows Democrats to pass legislation on their own in a 50-50 Senate split. Vice President Kamala Harris will hold the tiebreaker.
Democrats will begin drafting the aid legislation this week and hope to pass it by March 14, when major unemployment programs that boost millions of Americans expire. Along with the payments, the bill includes unemployment benefits of $ 400 per week through September, $ 20 billion for a Covid-19 vaccination program, $ 350 billion in state and local government support, and $ 30 billion for rent and utilities.
Biden has said he is open to changing the eligibility for the payments. He stressed on Friday that “I am not reducing the checks.”
When she appeared for Sanders on CNN, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen indicated that she was not willing to lower the income ceiling for receiving a full payment from $ 1,400 to $ 50,000.
“When you think of an elementary school teacher or police officer making $ 60,000 a year and dealing with children out of school and people who may have had to withdraw from the workforce to take care of them … [Biden] thinks, and I certainly agree, that it is appropriate for people there to be supported, ”she said on Sunday.
As part of a wave of votes before it approved a budget resolution to set up the reconciliation process on Friday, the Senate overwhelmingly backed an amendment to prevent high-income taxpayers from receiving stimulus checks. However, the symbolic measure did not define who those high earners are.
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