February 8 Political News

The White House said President Biden is unlikely to support any stimulus checks going to those who earn more than $60,000. Congress is currently working on a new coronavirus relief package and there has been a new debate on the stimulus checks, the amounts in the checks, and who should be eligible to get it.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt) criticized Democrats who wanted to lower income eligibility limits for the stimulus checks, saying it would cause “working class” people who got checks from Trump to not get them from Biden. He sarcastically said it was “brilliant!”

There is also a discussion that Biden’s stimulus checks should be $2,000, not $1,400. In recent months, President Trump provided a $600 stimulus check but he wanted for it to be $2,000. Biden campaigned on a promise of $2,000 checks, but the $1,400 amount is the difference after counting Trump’s checks. So there is a lot of pressure on Biden from within the Democratic Party.

Former President Trump’s impeachment trial will take place tomorrow. Trump’s legal team said the process is political theater. Democrats responded by saying a president cannot abuse power in their final days without accountability.

[SORENSON]

Axios explained that tomorrow, both sides will debate whether the trial is constitutional or not because Trump is no longer president. The Senate will vote on a simple majority threshold — so if all Democrats vote to proceed, then the trial will proceed.

On Wednesday, both sides will have up to 16 hours each on presentations. It’s not known if witnesses will be called. The trial will continue through the week, but not on Saturday, because one of Trump’s attorneys is Jewish and observes the Sabbath. The trial will resume on Sunday.

Today the Congressional Budget Office issued an analysis of the impact on the economy if there is a federal $15 minimum wage in place. The CBO said an increase would help almost a million people get out of poverty, but 1.4 million jobs would be lost. This is a projection for now until 2025. An increase would also cause the U.S. to go into a deeper budget deficit by adding $54 billion over 10 years. The White House said President Biden supports a $15 increase. Sen. Bernie Sanders is pushing for the wage increase to happen through the current round of the coronavirus stimulus package while Democrats have control of Congress.

That’s all the political news briefs for today.

https://twitter.com/BernieSanders

https://www.axios.com/trump-impeachment-trial-schedule-940f0352-8f60-4801-b8b4-78ce307367a1.html

https://www.politico.com/news/2021/02/08/cbo-minimum-wage-increase-467281