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TOPLINE

A group of ten Democrats is urging President Biden to include recurring stimulus checks and expanded unemployment benefits in the sweeping infrastructure spending bill the administration is expected to pursue after the passage of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan.

KEY FACTS

The signatories of the open letter to the president include Senate Finance Committee chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore.),  Senate Budget Committee chair Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee chair Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), along with seven more top Democrats.

The recurring direct payments and expanded unemployment insurance should be tied to economic conditions, the senators said, to “give families certainty that more relief is coming, allowing them to make the best decisions about how to spend their relief payments as they receive them.”

The letter does not specify the amount of the checks or how frequently they would be distributed.

While some economists have criticized stimulus checks as an ineffective relief measure because they are expensive and more difficult to target to Americans who actually need the cash, the lawmakers say they are necessary to reach those who fall through the cracks in the unemployment system because of reduced hours or pay or a temporary absence from the workforce.

Recurring stimulus checks have been a topic of discussion for Democrats for months and earlier this year, more than 50 progressive House lawmakers wrote to Biden to request recurring payments in the $1.9 trillion relief bill now making its way through Congress.

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