Scaled back 'too far': White House economist slams GOP's push for $1000 stimulus checks

A White House economist is pushing back against Republican lawmakers' push for $1,000 stimulus checks as opposed to $1,400 direct payments to American workers.

During an appearance on MSNBC with Rachel Maddow, Jared Bernstein, who serves on the White House Economic Advisors Council, said Republicans' suggestion likely would not be enough to meet President Joe Biden's demand. Not only is the proposed $1,000 significantly less than Democrats' initial request, but Republicans are also being criticized for their push to send checks to fewer individuals by lowering the income cap.

While Bernstein admitted that lawmakers have reached common ground on "some agreement on addressing the COVID crisis," there are still quite a few hurdles ahead.

"They also have checks to direct impact payments to people. But those checks are scaled back," Bernstein said, adding, "And I believe from some comments coming out of the White House tonight, they're scaled back at a level that the president would judge to be too far."

Bernstein made it clear that while Biden is open to negotiations with Republican lawmakers, he "will not settle for any package that fails to meet this moment with the magnitude to finally knock COVID back on its feet, get it behind us, and launch a robust and inclusive and a racially equitable recovery."

The White House Economic Advisors Council member made it clear that he also believes Republicans' scale-back is too much. Despite Republicans' push to have their demands included in the proposed bill, Democratic lawmakers are already preparing to pass the bill without Republican input, if needed.

He also said, "[President Biden] will not slow down our work on the urgent crisis of responding to our health care and economic dual crises and he will not settle for any package that fails to meet this moment."