Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) speaks during the confirmation hearing for Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources January 27, 2021 in Washington, DC.
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Senator Bernie Sanders said Sunday he was opposed to lowering the income threshold for receiving $ 1,400 in direct payments in the next coronavirus bill, underscoring the division that Democrats must resolve before they get the $ 1.9 trillion -Dollar package can adopt.
The most conservative member of the caucus in Senator Joe Manchin, DW.V., has raised concerns that stimulus checks such as those currently being pursued would benefit many high-income people who have not lost their jobs during the pandemic. President Joe Biden has said he is open to solvency negotiations which, as proposed, would benefit fully individuals with incomes up to $ 75,000 and couples with incomes up to $ 150,000.
Sanders, an independent Vermonter and chairman of the Senate Budgets Committee, and a few colleagues have argued Democrats shouldn’t lower the income ceiling. The right to control has emerged as a major problem within the party trying to pass a bailout without a Republican vote in the Senate.
A single defect would lower the bill.
Sanders told CNN that he supports a “strong cliff” on payments “so that it doesn’t pass to people who make $ 300,000 a year.” As now modeled, the plan would expire the checkout by 5% of every dollar a person over the cap earns in order to receive the full amount.
“And that’s what I support, that’s what most people understand,” Sanders said, the payments expire faster. “But to tell a worker in Vermont, California or elsewhere that if you make $ 52,000 a year you are too rich to get this aid, the full benefits, I find it absurd.”
According to reports, Democrats could begin stopping deposits with $ 50,000 income for individuals instead of $ 75,000.
In his committee post, Sanders will play a key role in drafting the bill and ensuring that it complies with the budgetary vote process. The tool will allow Democrats to pass laws themselves in a 50:50 split of the Senate. Vice President Kamala Harris will hold the decisive vote.
The Democrats will begin drafting the relief bill this week and hope to get it passed before March 14th, when key unemployment programs that are boosting millions of Americans run out. Along with the payments, the bill is said to include unemployment benefits of $ 400 per week through September, $ 20 billion for a Covid-19 vaccination program, $ 350 billion for state and local government assistance, and $ 30 billion for rent and utilities.
Biden has stated that he is open to a change in payment authorization. He stressed on Friday that “I am not reducing the size of the checks”.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who appeared on CNN ahead of Sanders, signaled she was unwilling to lower the income limit for receiving a full payment from $ 1,400 to $ 50,000.
“When you think of an elementary school teacher or cop who makes $ 60,000 a year and faces children who are out of school and people who may have had to retire to care for them. .. [Biden] thinks, and I would certainly agree, that it is appropriate that the people there get support, “she said on Sunday.
In a multitude of votes before a budget resolution to set up the reconciliation process was passed on Friday, the Senate overwhelmingly backed an amendment to exclude high-income taxpayers from receiving economic reviews. However, the symbolic measure did not define who these high earners are.
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