Psaki made the statements at a White House press briefing in response to a question on how the demands of moderate Democrats were demanding a series of bargains on the bill, as it makes its way through the Senate, that might hurt the Democratic Party’s progressive wing.
These include decreasing the additional federal unemployment benefit top-up from $400 to $300 and squeezing thresholds for who is fit to receive stimulus checks.
Late Friday, Senate leaders and moderate Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) cut a deal over the added jobless gains, breaking a logjam that had hindered the party’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill. Manchin, who was at the center of an hours-long holdup, ultimately gave his approval of the deal, freeing the way for the Senate to begin a climactic, marathon series of votes and, finally, approval of the extensive bill.
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The reporter asked Psaki if President Joe Biden is “concerned at all about losing progressives once this bill goes back to the House? And is there anything that he’s looking to do to cater to some of those more progressive demands?”
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Psaki responded by saying that, despite the changes, “this is an incredibly progressive bill,” and described how the jobless benefit settlement which, while lowering the size of the payout to $300, extends the spending period from August to September and makes the first $10,200 of jobless benefits tax-free, providing more aid to the unemployed than the current legislation.
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“It’s different person to person, of course, but on average it would provide more relief,” Psaki said. “So that sounds pretty progressive to me.”
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“We think this is a package that is incredibly appealing to many progressives in the country, and certainly should be to all progressives in the Congress,” she added, listing some of the bill’s contents that are expected to meet with permission from progressives.
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She said it cuts child poverty in half, particularly by expanding the Child Tax Credit. The legislation also includes tens of billions of dollars for rental and homeowners assistance, which Psaki said: “will benefit lower-income, disproportionately black and brown renters and homeowners.”
There is also money to expand vaccinations and support the reopening of schools.
“Reopening schools and schools being closed is—has a disproportionate impact on lower-income communities,” Psaki said, adding in summary, “Those are progressive proposals, progressive ideas, and a $1.9 trillion package is certainly a progressive-sized package.”
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