Daily Beast: “President Joe Biden has reassured House Democrats that he is committed to his COVID-19 relief package in its current form, and that despite his ‘cordial’ meeting with Senate Republicans on Monday night, ‘the idea that we’re going to go out and compromise and go from a trillion-nine to six hundred billion is just not in the cards.’ Biden’s remarks, made on a call with House Democrats on Wednesday morning, a recording of which was obtained by The Daily Beast, is the surest indication yet that he plans to push for passage of the ‘American Rescue Plan,’ his $1.9 trillion relief package to address the coronavirus pandemic and the damage it has done to the nation’s economy, through the budget reconciliation process. That process, which allows the Senate to pass budget-related legislation through a simple majority, would circumvent attempts by Republicans to filibuster the relief plan.”

“‘We’ve got to be up to the moment,’ Biden said on the call. ‘That’s what the American people, I think, are expecting of us, and frankly, that’s what they have a right to expect. And that’s why I’ve asked for the package proposed.’ Biden took particular exception to the Republican proposal on direct payments to cash-strapped Americans. Under his plan, direct payments would begin at $1,400 per person, as well as for dependents, gradually phasing out for individuals with a gross income of more than $75,000. Under the Republican plan, those payments would be cut to a $1,000 maximum, phasing out for individuals who made more than $40,000 in taxable income, with a $50,000 cap. The president said that proposal would leave out almost the entire middle class, which he called a non-starter. ‘Who are we helping is just as important as who’s being left out,’ Biden said on the call. ‘I don’t think we need to be in the business of helping those folks making three hundred grand a year, but a family making 60, 70 grand, maybe 80, who’s barely hanging on, middle-class folks?'”