Democrats reject moderates' calls to cut eligibility for $1,400 stimulus checks

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Nicholas Wu, USA TODAY
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WASHINGTON – Congressional Democrats rejected calls from some moderate lawmakers to reduce the number of people eligible for $1,400 stimulus checks in President Joe Biden's COVID-19 relief proposal, proposing an income threshold of $75,000 annually, the same threshold as the last round of $600 checks.

Unlike previous rounds of checks, the benefit would phase out more quickly, according to the draft legislation introduced by Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., the chairman of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee.

“Our nation is struggling, the virus is still not contained, and the American people are counting on Congress to meet this moment with bold, immediate action,” Neal said in a statement.

Child tax credit: Democrats propose tax credit of up to $3,600 per child in Joe Biden's COVID-19 relief plan

House committees are set to begin work this week to transform Biden's relief plan into a bill that can become law. Democrats are using a procedure called reconciliation to pass the bill. It allows them to more easily pass the legislation through the Senate but places certain constraints on the provisions allowed in the final bill.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has predicted the House of Representatives will pass the legislation by the end of the month, and that the Senate could pass it by mid-March.

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.V., a conservative Democrat, had floated a lower cutoff of $50,000 for the stimulus checks, a proposal that drew the ire of progressives, who argued Americans suffering from the COVID-fueled recession needed more aid.

He told reporters on Capitol Hill Monday, "we're just trying to make sure that people that are truly in need" are helped.

The Senate voted last week by a vote of 99-1 to add a nonbinding amendment led by Manchin and Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, to the reconciliation measure to bar "upper-income taxpayers" from the stimulus checks, though it did not define "upper-income."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Third stimulus check: Democrats propose $75K income threshold

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