Bernie Sanders opposes lower income limit for payments of $ 1,400

Senator Bernie Sanders said on Sunday he was against lowering the income threshold to receive direct payments of $ 1,400 in the upcoming coronavirus relief bill, stressing that a split among Democrats will have to resolve before they can adopt the $ 1.9 trillion package.

The most conservative member of Senator Joe Manchin’s caucus, DW.V., has raised concerns that stimulus checks, as they are currently targeted, will go to too many high-income people who don’t have not lost their jobs during the pandemic. President Joe Biden has declared himself open to negotiating eligibility for payments, which, as proposed, would go in full 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 income cap. Check eligibility has become the main sticking point within the party as it tries to push through a bailout without Republican votes in the Senate.

A single defection would sink the bill.

Sanders told CNN he was supporting a “steep cliff” for payments “so that it does not affect the people who make $ 300,000 a year.” As modeled now, the plan would phase out checks for 5% of every dollar a person earns above the cap to receive the full amount.

“And that’s what I stand for, that’s what I think most people understand,” Sanders said of phasing out payments faster. “But tell a worker in Vermont, California, or anywhere else, that if you make, you know, $ 52,000 a year, you’re too rich to get that help, the full benefit, I think. that this is absurd.

Reports have suggested Democrats could start phasing out $ 50,000 income deposits for individuals rather than $ 75,000.

In his committee role, Sanders will play a key role in shaping the bill and ensuring that it is in line with the budget reconciliation process. The tool will allow Democrats to pass laws themselves in a 50-50 split Senate. Vice-President Kamala Harris will hold the tiebreaker.

Democrats will begin drafting aid legislation this week and hope to pass it by March 14, when the major unemployment programs that stimulate millions of Americans will expire. In addition to payments, the bill is expected to include an jobless allowance of $ 400 per week until September, $ 20 billion for a Covid-19 vaccination program, $ 350 billion in support of state and local governments and $ 30 billion for rent assistance and utilities.

Biden said he was open to changing payment eligibility. He stressed on Friday that “I am not reducing the size of the checks”.

Appearing on CNN before Sanders, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said she was hesitant to lower the income cap to receive a full payment of $ 1,400 to $ 50,000.

“If you think of an elementary school teacher or policeman who earns $ 60,000 a year and deals with children out of school and people who may have had to withdraw from the workforce? to take care of them … [Biden] thinks, and I certainly agree, it’s appropriate that people there get support, ”she said on Sunday.

In a wave of votes ahead of a budget resolution passed on Friday to put the reconciliation process in place, the Senate overwhelmingly backed an amendment to ban high-income taxpayers from receiving stimulus checks. However, the symbolic measure does not define who these high incomes are.

Subscribe to CNBC on YouTube.