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In the wake of news that lame-duck President Donald Trump on Thursday was dissuaded by White House aides from publicly demanding stimulus checks as large as $2,000 in the next relief package, progressives called on Democratic leaders to use the leverage offered by Trump’s behind-the-scenes push to demand more than the $600 payments currently on the table.

The Washington Post’s Jeff Stein reported late Thursday that the outgoing president “was in the middle of formally drafting his demand for the larger payments when White House officials told him that doing so could imperil delicate negotiations over the economic relief package.”

Trump was preparing to demand one-time direct payments of “at least” $1,200 per person and as large as $2,000, according to Stein. “Trump ultimately did not call for the larger stimulus payments,” Stein noted. “His only public comments on the matter came in the morning when he wrote that ‘stimulus talks [are] looking very good.’”

Direct payments of $1,200 per person would be double the size of the checks congressional negotiators are currently considering in a relief package that could be finalized and passed within days. Progressive lawmakers, and one Republican senator, have been vocally urging congressional leaders to include larger direct payments as tens of millions of people across the U.S. struggle to afford basic necessities.

Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) introduced an amendment last week calling for payments of $1,200 per working-class adult and $500 per child; members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus are publicly demanding checks of “at least” $2,000.

While a substantial change in the size of direct payments is unlikely at this stage of the relief negotiations, Democrats are facing pressure to use Trump’s apparent desire for larger payments and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) expressed need for a deal to fight for the inclusion of bigger checks.

“Trump is privately demanding $2,000 stimulus checks. McConnell is quietly fretting over Georgia,” Sawyer Hackett, senior adviser to Julián Castro, tweeted Thursday, referring to the Kentucky Republican’s warning Wednesday that Sens. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) and David Perdue (R-Ga.) “getting hammered” over the GOP’s opposition to direct payments.

“Democrats control the leverage, they should demand larger stimulus in the package being negotiated,” Hackett said.

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