President Joe Biden said he was “stupid” for not doing what president-elect Donald Trump did during his first term — signing the checks sent to the public during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“I signed the American Rescue Plan, the most significant economic recovery package in our history, and also learned something from Donald Trump,” Biden noted during his economic speech at the Brookings Institution Tuesday.
Biden said that Trump “signed checks for people for 7,400 bucks...and I didn’t,” adding that it was “stupid,” drawing laughter from the crowd.
What Biden did do was send out signed letters from the IRS explaining the payments.
“My fellow American, On March 11, 2021, I signed into law the American Rescue Plan, a law that will help vaccinate America and deliver immediate economic relief to hundreds of millions of Americans, including you,” the letter stated at the time. “This fulfills a promise I made to you, and will help get millions of Americans through this crisis.”
The Trump administration faced criticism for its handling of the pandemic as the then-commander-in-chief suggested people inject disinfectant, pushed unproven treatmentsa nd restricted lockdowns. America saw a death toll of more than 1.2 million people from the pandemic.
Trump still pushed for the checks sent out to Americans to bear his name, something former President Barack Obama blasted on the campaign trail earlier this year, telling voters not to be “bamboozled” by the signed checks from Trump.
“Joe Biden sent you a check during the pandemic just like I gave people relief during the Great Recession,” Obama said, according to HuffPost. “The thing is, we didn’t put our name on it because it wasn’t about feeding our egos, it wasn’t about advancing our politics, it was about helping people. That’s the difference. Don’t you give him credit for that.”
Late Night host Seth Meyers said during a segment last month that Democrats “should have” put their names on the check.
“Like, next time, put your name on it,” he said. “Seriously, Joe Biden should have sent everyone $1,000 in the mail and called it Biden Bucks. And it’s not an issue of left versus far left. You just have to make people’s lives better in a way that’s direct and easy to understand, and then aggressively take credit for it.”
