Biden says $ 1,200 stimulus checks ‘may still be at stake’ in Covid relief negotiations



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President-elect Joe Biden said on Friday that another round of coronavirus stimulus checks for American families “may still be underway.”

“I think it would be better if they had the $ 1,200 [payments to families]Biden said at a press conference to respond to criticism of a new Covid relief plan revealed this week as the starting point for the latest round of negotiations on Capitol Hill.

Biden added: “And I understand that maybe that is still at stake. But, I won’t comment on the specific details. The point is that we need to make sure that people don’t get evicted from their apartments, lose their housing, can benefit from unemployment insurance [that] they can continue to feed their families while we get the economy going. “

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., And Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., backed a bipartisan $ 908 billion bailout as the basis for talks with the leader of Senate majority Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

Pelosi told reporters on Friday “there is momentum” towards lawmakers to strike a deal.

Biden endorsed the plan as a “good start,” but vowed to push for more help when his administration takes charge. At the press conference, Biden did not say if he had spoken to McConnell.

The proposal does not include a second direct payment of $ 1,200 to most Americans. Pelosi and Schumer have called for yet another stimulus check for months on the trillions of aid they hoped to approve.

When Democratic leaders ceded ground and called for discussions to begin around the $ 908 billion measure, they noted that “we and others will offer improvements.”

Some progressives in Congress have questioned how much relief a bill would be if it didn’t include out-of-pocket payments or a solid UI supplement. Senator Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Said he would not support a bill unless it included a stimulus check or removed Republican demands for an accountability shield, according to NBC News.

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, DN.Y., told NBC News that she would be willing to support the package. Yet she criticized the lack of direct payments.

The bipartisan plan includes funding for a second round of paycheck protection program small business loans, relief for state and local governments that may have to cut essential services and money for schools. It also includes money for transport and distribution of vaccines.

Skeptics, including Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez, fear they are not putting enough money directly into Americans’ pockets. While it allows for an enhanced federal unemployment benefit of $ 300 per week, the sum is half of the $ 600 weekly payment that Congress passed in March. The provision expired in July.

Biden has already approved a much larger relief bill that passed the House earlier this year. He noted at Friday’s press conference that the $ 908 billion proposal “is just a down payment.”

Still, Biden signaled a willingness to compromise, and said he was confident the stalemate in Congress will give way to a deal in time to “keep us from getting off the edge here.”

“If you insist on everything, you probably won’t get anything on both sides,” Biden said.

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