Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has had it with Senate Democrats and their games regarding COVID relief checks. I mean, this could be notched as another Biden White House lie. There will be loads of these over the next four years but remember the Georgia runoffs? elect Democrats Warnock and Ossoff to the Senate and we’ll get that COVID relief with $2,000 checks done. Well, that’s now $1,400 checks and there’s talk about adjusting the income threshold as well. What happened to the $2,000 check promise? Well, the $600 relief check doled out under Trump in the twilight of his presidency was a down payment. Sanders was quite clear as to why he was sick of the political games here. For starters, under the current Democratic proposal for the income threshold, more working people would have benefitted from relief under Trump than Joe Biden, so expect that proposal to die soon. This is what you’d expect from Democrats being in charge (via the Blaze):
President Joe Biden's massive $1.9 trillion COVID-related economic relief package includes $1,400 payments, and begins phasing out the payments for individuals who earn $75,000 and couples who earn $150,000.
But as Democrats and Republicans continue negotiating, some Democrats have signaled a willingness to lower the income threshold, meaning fewer Americans would be eligible for the third round of stimulus.
[…]
"Unbelievable," Sanders, the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, tweeted.
"There are some Dems who want to lower the income eligibility for direct payments from $75,000 to $50,000 for individuals, and $150,000 to $100,000 for couples. In other words, working class people who got checks from Trump would not get them from Biden. Brilliant!" Sanders added.
I strongly oppose lowering income eligibility for direct payments from $75,000 to $50,000 for individuals and $150,000 to $100,000 for couples. In these difficult times, ALL working class people deserve the full $1,400. Last I heard, someone making $55,000 a year is not "rich."
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) February 7, 2021
I’m on the other side of this, folks. Checks should have gone out months ago. Nancy Pelosi and congressional Democrats did well in torpedoing any more COVID relief efforts as Election Day 2020 drew closer because they knew it would help Trump in his re-election effort. Everyone knows it. Even CBS News pressed her on it. In August, PBS NewsHour brought up how Republicans were willing to be flexible with the price tag, which resulted in an epic Pelosi meltdown. Not even liberal media outlets can fully blame the GOP for the lack of relief to America’s working families. The relief checks should be $2,000. It should be much more frankly.
Congress’ dithering on this should come with interest. Democrats decided to let the American worker bleed more in order to boot Trump. It’s all part of the abject failure of everyone who works in the Capitol and in this town. It’s killing the country and the only people dense enough not to see it are—shocker—members of Congress. To them, it’s all a game. It’s all about collecting that high six-figure salary, enjoying the benefits of that luxurious health care plan, and looking like you’re doing something. The rest of us can screw off and die. It’s now a country club. loads of people already see that. It’s how you get Trump elected president. It’s how you see a rise in populism on both sides of the aisle.