Democrats May Block Millions of Families from Receiving Full Stimulus Checks
By Andrew Perez
On 2/4/21 at 6:49 PM EST
The nation s biggest business lobby is pushing Democrats to slash COVID-19 relief checks for middle-class families despite new census data showing that nearly half of those families have lost income because of the pandemic. Top Democrats are now reportedly considering excluding millions of those families from the checks, and President Joe Biden himself has said he is willing to negotiate with Republicans on limiting eligibility for the checks.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which spent $82 million lobbying in Washington last year, sent a letter to the White House and Congress on Tuesday urging them to consider targeting any additional stimulus checks based on income, loss of employment, or similar criteria.
FINANCE By Andrew Asch | Thursday, January 21, 2021
Before becoming the 46th United States president, Joe Biden unveiled the American Rescue Plan on Jan. 14, a proposed $1.9-trillion program that his incoming administration said will put the U.S. economy back on its feet after 10 months of the COVID-19 pandemic. The plan was announced shortly after the U.S. Congress approved a second round of Payment Protection Plan loans, which will provide further aid to small businesses navigating the pandemic’s economic slowdown.
The American Rescue Plan proposes increasing unemployment insurance, giving stimulus payments of $1,400 to qualifying individuals, and offering aid to state and local governments, schools, renters, child-care providers, as well as a speed-up for COVID-19 vaccination programs.