On Day 10, Democrats are eating Biden’s words on a $2,000 stimulus check.
Before taking office, Biden talked a big game on stimulus checks.
A day before the Senate runoff elections in Georgia, Biden referenced $2,000 checks three times, urging voters to vote blue in order to see $2,000 checks “go out the door immediately.”
“$600 is simply not enough when you have to choose between paying rent or putting food on the table. We need $2,000 stimulus checks,” Biden tweeted on January 10.
Chuck Schumer backed up that message: “One of the first things that I want to do when our new senators are seated is deliver the $2,000 checks to the American families,” he said.
Now, with the American Rescue Plan in hand, it turns out the “$2,000 Stimulus Check” was just the name of Joe Biden’s favorite campaign magic trick: putting $600 in two places at once.
While the additional $600 from President Trump, following the first round of $1,200 to total $1,800, was deemed a laughable sum for struggling Americans, it also constituted a solid “down payment” toward a total of $2,000 from Biden, only obliging the latter to see a $1,400 check out the door when his turn came.
Of course, by that reasoning, Biden may as well have promised a $3,200 check, including the first round of $1,200 checks sent under the Trump administration in the spring of 2020.
Some lawmakers on both the right and left have urged a $2,000 stimulus check. Sen. Marco Rubio appealed to Biden to prioritize getting a larger check to Americans by not “adding a wish list of far left or other unrelated priorities to this legislation.”
But the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan does exactly that with measures like doubling the federal minimum wage to $15—a nonstarter for Republicans, especially during an economic recession.
Meanwhile, Democrats are forced to eat Biden’s words on bigger payment amounts, even as the President stresses the urgency of economic relief.
“.@POTUS will build on the $600 down payment provided by Congress last year, sending an additional $1,400 to households across America, totaling direct payments to $2,000 per person,” @TheDemocrats tweeted on Saturday evening.
BONUS: Day 10 was a great relief for Sen. Amy Klobuchar, apparently.
“Woke up on a Saturday and didn’t have to respond to a mean tweet from the White House. Feels weird but good,” the former presidential candidate tweeted. “I’m going to make some toast instead.”
Translation: “I miss Donald Trump.”
