Where things stand on the Senate relief bill
President Biden told reporters he was comfortable with limiting direct stimulus payments based on income in his administration’s Covid relief bill Thursday, adding he intended to continue outreach across the aisle in the hopes of getting bipartisan support.
“We’ve had a number of meetings with Republicans on the coronavirus bill in the House and Senate,” Biden told reporters ahead of an Oval Office meeting on infrastructure, “a combination of both. So, we’re keeping everybody informed.”
The Senate is voting now to open the debate on their version of the Covid-19 relief bill.
Biden agreed to a compromise with moderate Democrats to narrow the income eligibility for the next round of $1,400 stimulus checks included in the Senate bill, a Democratic source told CNN on Wednesday.
That means 7 million fewer families will receive a partial payment than would have under the House version of the bill, according to an estimate from the Penn Wharton Budget Model. The new proposal will completely cut off those who earn more than $160,000 a year and individuals who earn more than $80,000 a year.
The House legislation, which passed Saturday, set the income caps at $200,000 for couples and $100,000 for individuals.
On the subject at hand at today’s White House event, Biden pointed to infrastructure as an area for bipartisan cooperation, telling lawmakers, “Infrastructure is, not only creates jobs, but it makes us a whole lot more competitive around the world, if we have the best infrastructure in the world.”
Biden did not respond to shouted questions from the press pool if his next legislative priority would be an infrastructure package.
