A new GOP plan would include a third round of stimulus payments but at a lower level than those backed by President Joe Biden.
Ten Republican Senators announced Sunday they would release details of a $600 billion COVID-19 relief package today. The plan will come after Biden’s own $1.9 trillion stimulus package that includes $1,400 in direct stimulus payments.
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said the new plan is in response to the president’s “calls for unity.”
“We want to work in good faith with you and your administration to meet the health, economic and societal challenges of the (COVID-19) crisis,” the Senators wrote, according to the Washington Post.
You can read the GOP letter here.
The Republican plan includes direct stimulus payments of $1,000 and would shrink the pool of eligibility to include those earning up to $50,000 for individuals and $100,000 for couples.
Biden said last week said he was open to changing the income thresholds for those eligible to receive a check.
For past stimulus payments, individuals earning up to $75,000 and married couples earning up to $150,000 received the full amount, with payments dropping incrementally above those income levels. The first stimulus was $1,200 per person and approved in March during the early days of the coronavirus pandemic. Congress passed the second – $600 – in December.
Biden has backed the $1,400 checks to bring the total amount of recent payments to $2,000, an amount favored by some Democrats and, before he left office, former President Donald Trump.
The Post reported the GOP plan would also cut Biden’s proposed federal unemployment benefits, currently set at $300 and set to expire mid-March. Democrats want to raise that amount to $400 that would last through September. Republicans want to keep the payments at $300 per week and extend them through June.
