WH says proposed $1,400 relief is not breaking campaign promise of $2,000 checks
In a White House briefing on Wednesday, press secretary Jen Psaki said President Biden was not breaking a campaign promise of delivering Americans $2,000 in coronavirus relief. Psaki said the current proposal of $1,400 in a relief bill would be in addition to $600 relief checks that were distributed during the Trump administration.
Video Transcript
- I have a couple questions, [INAUDIBLE]. So during the Georgia runoffs, President Biden campaigned specifically on $2,000 stimulus checks. And obviously, as we've discussed, the payment is $1,400. There doesn't seem to be an active discussion of actually raising that amount. So is that a broken promise to voters who may have been expecting $2,000 checks, if Democrats won? And would the administration be open to raising that amount?
JEN PSAKI: Well you're right that the the president is very focused on insuring millions of Americans receive those checks, and that pivotal relief at this point in time. There was $600 payments, as you know, in the $900 billion package that passed in December. This is $1,400. Together, that's $2,000. So it would be delivering on the promise he made. And it's something that he is firmly sticking by.
