President Biden indicated in a call with House Democrats that he was open to sending $1,400 payments to a smaller group of Americans in the next round of coronavirus relief legislation and changing the overall price tag of his $1.9 trillion plan, the Wall Street Journal reported. Biden told House Democrats yesterday that he wouldn’t change the amount of the proposed $1,400 payments, saying people had been promised that amount. Instead, he said he would consider targeting them differently than the previous two rounds of direct aid to Americans. Members of both political parties have questioned whether the $1,400 payments he has proposed would go to people who don’t need the aid. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said later yesterday that Biden is open to changes in the threshold for who would qualify for the $1,400 stimulus checks. “That’s something that has been under discussion,” she said. Biden also said he was flexible on the overall cost of the package, which Democrats have started advancing through Congress through a process that will allow them to pass it along party lines, according to the people familiar with the call. He said Democrats could make “compromises” on several programs in the proposal. Read more. (Subscription required.)
In related news, House Democrats voted yesterday to set the stage for party-line approval of President Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill, heeding the president’s calls for swift action on his first big agenda item, the Washington Post reported. The 218-to-212 nearly party-line vote approved a budget bill that would unlock special rules in the Senate allowing Biden’s relief package to pass with a simple majority, instead of the 60 votes usually needed. The Senate is expected to take action on the same legislation later in the week. With the budget resolutions in place, Democrats would be able to get to work in earnest on writing Biden’s proposed relief bill into law — and ultimately pass it without any Republican votes if necessary, though they continued to insist that is not their preference. Read more.
