On Friday, Democratic Senator Joe Manchin signaled that he will oppose the direct payments of $2000, jeopardizing one priority of his party when they will be able to control the Congress and White House. According to the Post, the lawmaker from West Virginia said that he will absolutely be on the side of opposing another Covid-19 relief check for the Americans.
This Did Not Come As A Surprise From Joe Manchin, Most Conservative Democrat Of The Senate
Later Joe Manchin clarified his statement by tweeting that if another round of checks is issued, it should go to all the eligible Americans and not all Americans. Joe Manchin is a very conservative Democrat of the Senate opposed to the proposal’s cost. The Taxation Joint nonpartisan Committee previously stated that elevating the content of the payments from $600 to $2000 passed during the last month would cost around $463 billion. Joe’s stance regarding the type of deposit plan that will get through once Democrats take control over the Senate by a thin majority raised many doubts.
The Democratic party will get 50-50 control of the chamber through a tie breaking vote by Kamala Harris, would-be Vice President in the weeks to come after Jan 20th inauguration and the ceremony of swearing-in of Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, both elected Democratic Senators from Georgia. The comments made by Joe Manchin has caused a dip in massive stock indexes temporarily on Friday.
As the Americans are struggling to pay rent and bills during this pandemic, President-elect Biden along with other Democratic leaders of Congress have demanded around multiple trillion dollars in relief. Biden has termed the $900 billion relief plan a kind of “down payment” which got approved past month. The demand for more aid and assistance comes at a time when the Department of Labor reported job losses of around 140,000 Americans in December.
