President-elect Joe Biden said Friday that another round of coronavirus stimulus checks for US families "may still be in the game".
"I think it would be better if they had the $ 1,200 [payments to families]," Biden said when asked at a press conference to respond to criticism of a new Covid relief plan being launched this week the final round of negotiations was unveiled on Capitol Hill.
Biden added, "And I understand that maybe that's still in the game. But I'm not going to comment on the specific details. The whole purpose is that we have to make sure people don't get kicked out of theirs." Apartments, losing their houses, can get unemployment insurance that they can continue to feed their families on if we let the economy grow again. "
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., And Senate Minority Chairman Chuck Schumer, D-NY have a $ 908 billion bipartisan relief plan as a basis for talks with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell , R-Ky, supported.
On Friday, Pelosi told reporters "there is a dynamic" towards lawmakers hitting a deal.
Biden has approved the plan as a "good start" but has promised to press for further help when his administration takes over. At the press conference, Biden wouldn't say whether he spoke to McConnell.
The proposal doesn't include a second direct payment of $ 1,200 to most Americans. Pelosi and Schumer have been calling for another stimulus check for months as part of the trillion relief supplies they wanted to approve.
When the Democratic leaders gave in and asked to open talks on the $ 908 billion measure, they stated that "we and others will offer improvements."
Some Congressional progressives have questioned how much relief a bill would bring if it didn't include direct payments or a solid unemployment insurance supplement. Senator Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Said he would only endorse a bill if it contained a stimulus check or scrapped Republican claims for liability coverage, according to NBC News.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., Told NBC News she was open to support the package. Nevertheless, she criticized a lack of direct payments.
The bipartisan plan includes funding a second round of the paycheck protection program for small loans, relief for state and local governments that may have to cut essential services and money for schools. It also includes money for the transportation and distribution of vaccines.
Skeptics like Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez fear that they won't put enough money straight into Americans' pockets. While it grants a weekly unemployment benefit of $ 300 per week, the amount is half the weekly $ 600 allowance passed by Congress in March. The provision expired in July.
Biden previously approved a much larger relief bill that the House passed earlier this year. At the press conference on Friday, he stated that the $ 908 billion proposal is "just a down payment."
Nonetheless, Biden signaled a willingness to compromise and said he was confident that the congressional stalemate would lead to an agreement in time to "keep us from straying from the sidelines".
"If you insist on everything, you probably won't get anything on either side," Biden said.
