Republican Sens. Mitt Romney and Josh Hawley are objecting to the stimulus package released by Mitch McConnell on the grounds that the direct payments to households don’t go far enough.
“Relief to families in this emergency shouldn’t be regressive. Lower-income families shouldn’t be penalized,” Hawley said on Twitter Thursday night.
“The GOP bill that just got introduced in the Senate needs to be fixed,” added the Missourian.
The Senate Republican $1 trillion stimulus plan to combat the economic damage caused by the coronavirus includes language to give taxpayers direct cash payments of $1,200 to individuals and $2,400 to couples earning below a certain income.
The checks would be limited to 2018 tax year income liability, though, meaning that many families would not receive the full amounts. Individuals with only nominal earnings would receive a minimum $600 check. Under the plan, one has to earn at least $2,500 of qualifying income to receive a $600 check from the federal government.
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Those provisions mean that the plan is regressive. Families earning less than roughly $50,000 would not get the full $1,200 checks from the federal government.
“The current bill has promise but it shouldn’t give lower earners smaller checks — that’s directly contrary to my proposal,” Romney tweeted Thursday night.
“We need to fix this to ensure lower earners get equal payments,” the Utah senator said.
Senate Democrats have also called for bigger cash payments.
Republicans will have to get a deal with Democrats to pass the legislation because it will face a 60-vote threshold, and Democrats control the House of Representatives.
