President-elect Joe Biden on Friday called for increasing the most recent payments to $2,000 as part of the next coronavirus stimulus bill.

Because the base is so much higher than it is with $600 checks, a family of four, which would start with $8,000 in stimulus checks, would have to make $310,000 before the entire payment would end, according to calculations by the Center for a Responsible Federal Budget.

What makes Manchin’s vote so crucial is that Senate Democrats can bypass a filibuster and approve the higher checks with just 51 rather than 60 votes, and he is one of the 51.

So if he’s a no, incoming Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York would need to find at least one Republican to pass the bill.

Both Biden and Schumer endorsed Trump’s call for the higher checks.

Now that he will be the one deciding which bills reach the floor, Schumer said approving higher checks was “one of the first things that I want to do” after victories in Georgia’s two U.S.

Senate races earlier this month gave the Democrats their first Senate majority since 2015 thanks to incoming Vice President Kamala Harris’ tie-breaking vote.

That legislation did not include stimulus checks, which were added after Senate Republicans refused to support federal help for states and municipalities.