Buttigieg says ‘time is of the essence’ on stimulus bill

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg left open the idea on Sunday that the administration would consider lowering the income threshold for eligibility for Americans to receive individual stimulus checks under the latest coronavirus relief proposal. 

Buttigieg told ABC “This Week,” host George Stephanopoulos that “time is of the essence” when it comes to helping Americans as soon as possible.

“Look, there’s an active conversation going on right now obviously, but the bottom line is we’ve got to support as many Americans as we can, as robustly as we can and as quickly as we can. Time is of the essence,” Buttigieg said.

“The bottom line is we’ve got to support as many Americans as we can as robustly as we can, and as quickly as we can,” Sec. Pete Buttigieg says when asked about talks to potentially lower stimulus check eligibility in order to pass COVID-19 relief. https://t.co/ySzpMrCdoa pic.twitter.com/ldFm4GoSiW

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) February 7, 2021

Buttigieg also expressed confidence that the stimulus bill would pass despite the slim majority that Democrats currently command in Congress.

“That’s not just a unifying priority for the Democratic coalition, that’s something that has a remarkably large degree of support among Republicans, at least among Republican voters, Republican mayors,” Buttigieg said. “We’re hoping that will also show up among Republican legislators here in Washington.”

Vice President Harris cast her first tie-breaking vote on Friday, helping Senate Democrats to pass a budget resolution that paves the way to pass a stimulus bill without GOP support. President Biden has signalled that he would prefer to have bipartisan support but has said he is willing to move forward without it.