Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) speaks during the confirmation hearing of the nominee for Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on Capitol Hill on January 27, 2021 at Washington, DC.
Swimming pool | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Sen. Bernie Sanders said Sunday he opposes lowering the revenue threshold to receive $ 1,400 direct on the next coronavirus relief bill, stressing a split Democrats will have to resolve before they can approve the package. of $ 1.9 trillion.
The most conservative member of the caucus in Sen. Joe Manchin, DW.V., has expressed concern that stimulus controls, as they are currently directed, 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 eligibility for payments, which as proposed would go entirely to people earning up to $ 75,000 and couples earning up to $ 150,000.
Sanders, a Vermont independent and chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, and some colleagues have argued that Democrats should not lower the revenue cap. Eligibility for the controls has become the main stumbling block within the party as it attempts to approve a no-vote bailout package for Republicans in the Senate.
A single defect would sink the bill.
Sanders told CNN that he supports a “strong cliff” for payments, “so it doesn’t pour into people earning $ 300,000 a year.” As modeled now, the plan would gradually eliminate checks for 5% of every dollar a person earns above the limit to receive the full amount.
“And that’s what I stand for, it’s what I think most people understand,” Sanders said of the phasing out of payments. “But to tell a worker in Vermont or California or anywhere else, that if you earn $ 52,000 a year, you’re already too rich to get that help, the maximum benefit, I think that’s absurd.”
Reports suggest Democrats could begin phasing out $ 50,000 in income deposits for individuals instead of $ 75,000.
In his committee position, Sanders will play a key role in drafting the bill and ensuring that it complies with the budget reconciliation process. The tool will allow Democrats to pass legislation on their own in a Senate division of 50 to 50. Vice President Kamala Harris will hold the tiebreaker vote.
Democrats will begin drafting aid legislation this week and hope to pass it before March 14, when key unemployment programs driven by millions of Americans expire. Along with payments, the project will include an unemployment benefit of $ 400 a week through September, $ 20 billion for a vaccination program against Covid-19, $ 350 billion in support of state and local governments, and $ 30 billion. dollars in aid for rents and utilities.
Biden has said he is open to changing eligibility for payments. He stressed Friday that “I do not reduce the size of checks.”
Appearing on CNN before Sanders, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen noted that she was reluctant to lower the income limit for having received a total payment of $ 1,400 to $ 50,000.
“If you think a primary school teacher or cop earns $ 60,000 a year and is facing children who are not in school and people who may have had to retire from the workforce to take care of them. .. [Biden] he thinks, and I agree, that it’s appropriate for people there to get support, ”he said Sunday.
As part of a wave of votes before it passed a budget resolution Friday to establish the reconciliation process, the Senate overwhelmingly supported an amendment to prevent high-income taxpayers from receiving stimulus checks. However, the symbolic measure did not define who are those with the most income.
Subscribe to CNBC on YouTube.