Here’s What We Know About Biden’s Massive Stimulus Plan Coming This Week

Plus: This Wall Street Billionaire Warns Market Is ‘Not Going To End Well’ – But He Still Likes These 5 Investments

TOPLINE

President-elect Joe Biden is expected to unveil a multi-trillion-dollar stimulus plan this week. Here’s what we know so far. 

KEY FACTS

The plan will almost certainly include a provision to increase the amount of the second round of direct payments (that is, stimulus checks)  from $600 to $2,000, though it’s not yet clear if the eligibility requirements for the larger payments will change.

It will also include more state and local aid (a provision that was left out of the most recent $900 billion package in the wake of vehement objections from the GOP), Bloomberg reported, as well as a further expansion of enhanced federal unemployment benefits. 

The success of large parts of Biden’s plan (those eligible under a process called budget reconciliation) will hinge on the full support of every Democratic senator after last week’s runoff elections in Georgia—with control of the Senate now split 50-50 (and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris casting the tie-breaker vote), Biden cannot afford to lose even one Democratic vote on a massive spending plan that almost all, if not all, Republicans are sure to oppose. 

The push for $2,000 checks is already facing some pushback from Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), a conservative Democrat whose vote will be critical and who signaled last week that he might be opposed to the larger checks if they are not more narrowly targeted to those who have actually lost jobs and income.

It’s also not clear that all of the big-ticket items that Biden and Democrats want—including the state and local aid they say is critical for recovery—would fall under the reconciliation umbrella, meaning that 60 votes and some Republican support may be necessary for those provisions to pass. 

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