Tucked away in the USA Today story, they note there was a requirement in the bill Trump signed that called for a letter to go out notifying people of the payment. So that if there were any questions/concerns/mistakes, Americans would have that letter as a record to reference. So it wasn’t just an idle letter to promote Trump. There’s the same requirement in latest Act with which the Biden team has to comply, as CNN notes. But Biden’s letter wouldn’t get the same criticism. There was no criticism of Biden in the CNN story yesterday, reporting about the checks, indeed there was only criticism of Trump.

Now, first thing I’d say about the letter, I get that it’s an IRS payment, but seriously, IRS letters give people heart attacks, with people’s first thought that they’re in trouble.

But do you notice something else in there?

Here’s what Biden claims in his letter:

“A key part of the American Rescue Plan is direct payments of $1400 per person for most American households. With the Direct Payment from December, this brings the total relief payment up to $2000. This fulfills a promise I made to you, and will help get millions of Americans through this crisis.”

Oh, no, he just didn’t! He just took credit for money that passed under Trump.

Also prior to the election House Speaker Nancy Pelosi balked at the passage of a smaller bill that Republicans would have agreed to. She was then was cool with it after the election. Why? She admitted “that’s OK now because we have a new president.” So it takes some chutzpah to take credit for something that should have been passed before, under Trump.