Pelosi calls $600 stimulus checks 'significant’ but said $1k tax cut bonuses were 'crumbs’ in 2018
Both Democrats and Republicans had proposed giving Americans another round of $1,200 checks
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., lauded a $900 billion coronavirus relief package agreed upon by lawmakers over the weekend, which includes another round of economic impact payments.
Pelosi called the $600 stimulus payments “significant” on the House floor on Monday, while adding that she would have liked them to have been bigger.
During negotiations that have been ongoing for months regarding additional coronavirus-related relief, both Democrats and Republicans have separately proposed giving Americans another round of $1,200 checks – which is what was provided under the CARES Act.
While Pelosi praised the $600 payment provision, she previously characterized thousand-dollar bonuses provided to employees by corporate America as “crumbs” in 2018.
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After the Republican-led tax reform bill, known as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, passed, many companies – ranging from Capitol One to Fiat Chrysler – decided to reinvest in their businesses by giving out worker bonuses. These efforts were largely encouraged by perceived savings from a number of provisions, including a drastically lowered corporate tax rate.
But Pelosi noted that giving out $1,000 checks when companies would likely save much more money under the law was “pathetic” – a view that is consistent with Democrats’ stance on corporate greed.
“In terms of the bonus that corporate America received versus the crumbs that they are giving to workers to kind of put the schmooze on — it’s so pathetic,” she said during a press conference nearly three years ago. “I think it’s insignificant.”
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The pandemic has drastically changed the financial situation of many American households this year, considering the loss of work and jobs, in addition to the physical illness and tragic loss of life.