Some senior Democratic officials are open to setting an income limit of $50,000 for the next round of stimulus checks, according to The Washington Post, as Democrats try to shore up support from those like West Virginia Sen. Joe Machin (D) to help push through President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion stimulus package.
KEY FACTS
The idea is just in the conversation phase and has not been put in legislation, according to the Post, citing sources with knowledge of the discussions.
The discussions reportedly include an income cap of $50,000 for individuals, $75,000 for heads of households and $100,000 for joint filers to receive full checks—a significant decrease in eligibility limits compared to earlier checks.
Democrats passed a budget resolution Tuesday aimed at passing the stimulus package by the slimmest of margins—50-49—with not a single senator crossing party lines.
The White House has called for $1,400 stimulus checks, and has signaled that lowering the amount of the payment is not up for negotiation, even as details on who qualifies for the checks is apparently still being hashed out.
The income caps would put the Democratic package more in line with a Republican proposalreleased Monday, which called for $1,000 stimulus checks that would go to individuals making under $40,000 a year with smaller payments for single filers making up to $50,000 a year.
SURPRISING FACT
President Joe Biden's administration has been pushing to expand stimulus check eligibility for some who could not receive checks before, notably young Americans such as college students who are still claimed as dependents by their parents.
BIG NUMBER
$1.9 trillion. That's how expensive the Democrats' proposed stimulus package is. It includes raising the national minimum wage to $15 an hour, $400 a week federal unemployment payments and hundreds of billions of dollars for state and local governments, among other initiatives. The proposed Republican plan costs around $618 billion.
KEY BACKGROUND
Democrats look poised to move ahead on the package even as Republicans are calling for more negotiations, claiming Biden isn't living up to his promise of increased unity and bipartisanship. But Biden and other top Democrats have stressed the priority is for the package to be passed quickly. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Tuesday Biden is "totally on board" with using the reconciliation process to pass the stimulus package, which only requires a simple majority. Democratic leadership scored a major victory Tuesday in their hope to pass the stimulus package through that process, when Manchin—widely considered the most conservative Senate Democrat—voted to move forward with the reconciliation process, even after arguing the stimulus checks need to be more specifically targeted than they had before. Every Democrat voted in favor of the move without a single Republican voting in support.
This article originally appeared on Forbes.
