Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez blasts Democrats’ last-minute compromise on stimulus checks as an ‘own-goal’

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez blasts Democrats’ last-minute compromise on stimulus checks as an ‘own-goal’

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez condemned "conservative" Democratic senators who pushed their party to limit eligibility for a new set of $1,400 stimulus checks under President Joe Biden's relief package. 

Biden has endorsed the proposal for quicker phaseouts for the $1,400 stimulus checks to prevent people who earn higher incomes from getting a third direct payment, two Democratic aides told Insider on Wednesday. The checks form a key part of the $1.9 trillion relief legislation the Senate will take up.

"Conservative Dems have fought so the Biden admin sends fewer & less generous relief checks than the Trump admin did," Ocasio-Cortez tweeted on Wednesday afternoon. "It's a move that makes little-to-no political or economic sense, and targets an element of relief that is most tangibly felt by everyday people. An own-goal." 

A few other progressive House Democrats also voiced frustration over the stimulus check negotiation. The Senate may cast an initial vote on the $1.9 trillion relief package on Wednesday. 

Rep. Pramila Jayapal, chair of the House Progressive Caucus, said she wasn't pleased with the smaller individual checks. And Rep. Mark Pocan called the compromise deal "Senate silliness." 

"I don't like that this is being narrowed," Jayapal said Wednesday. "I feel like the survival checks are the