President Joe Biden’s $ 1.9 trillion coronavirus relief plan is advancing, raising hopes for another round of stimulus checks for most Americans. THE House approved the bill early Saturday.
After that, the Senate is expected to take over the spending package, dubbed the American Rescue Plan, in the first week of March, although some wrinkles emerged during the negotiations. The biggest obstacle is a provision in the House measure that would increase the federal minimum wage to $ 15 an hour by 2025. The Senate bill is unlikely to include the increase after the Senate parliamentarian decided on Thursday that the salary increase cannot be included in the upper house version of the aid plan.
This means that the House will vote on a version that includes raising the minimum wage, while Senate legislation does not. Because of this discrepancy, the House will need to vote on the bill again after the Senate approves it, according to Hunter Hammond, an analyst at Heights Security.
Still, while the loss of the wage increase is a blow to low-income workers, its withdrawal from Senate talks could effectively accelerate approval of the bill, analysts say.
“This decision, while disappointing for progressives, makes calculating approval of the bill much easier for Democrats,” Hammond told investors in a research note. “They will avoid an uphill battle in the Senate, where two Democratic senators are opposed to an increase to $ 15 / hour (although at least one of them said he could support a smaller increase), which means that the party could have been submitted to a brutal internal struggle over the matter. “
The project would also increase weekly unemployment benefits from $ 300 to $ 400; provide finance for small businesses, schools and cities and states; offering tax incentives to families with children; and increase government spending on COVID-19 testing and contact tracking.
The Senate may vote on the package at the end of next week, with the House then casting its final vote on the weekend of March 6 or during the week of March 8, Hammond predicted. Lawmakers are trying to approve the bill before March 14, when the $ 300 a week unemployment benefit expansion is set to expire.
To be sure, disputes or disagreements can still make the bill unfeasible. But Democrats are using a process called budget reconciliation to pass legislation, which means that only a simple majority in the Senate is needed for approval, instead of the 60 votes required by most bills to overcome a potential obstruction. In other words, Democrats do not need the support of Republican senators to approve the bailout plan.
IRS Schedule
If the bill is passed by March 12, the Friday prior to the expiration of the extra unemployment benefit, stimulus checks may begin to reach bank accounts from a few days to a week after that, based on the term of the IRS to distribute the second round of stimulus checks in December.
Earlier this month, the IRS said it is looking at the relief bill to prepare to distribute the next round of payments. “We are keeping our eyes on the hill,” said Ken Corbin, the IRS taxpayer’s chief experience executive, although he did not anticipate when the tax agency could distribute the checks.
The IRS depends on the taxpayer’s most recent income tax return to determine how much they should receive and when they can receive them. That’s why some tax experts are urging taxpayers to file your returns as soon as possible, especially if they have had a major life change, such as the birth of a child or the loss of a job or income in the past year.
Since the IRS officially started accepting tax returns on February 12 and will close the filing window on its usual April 15 date, the plan can be approved in the middle of the tax filing season.
If a taxpayer fails to submit its 2020 tax returns before Congress approves its next relief bill, the agency will likely rely on its 2019 tax return to calculate the payment of the stimulus check – and that 2019 return may not reflect the loss of income during last year’s economic crisis or a new child, for example. In this case, the taxpayer may not receive as much stimulus money as he is entitled to.
Income limits
A person’s income is the main determinant of whether they will receive a check, as well as the amount of the payment.
Like the previous two stimulus checks, payments would total $ 1,400 for a single person or $ 2,800 for a couple filing the order together. But only individuals who earn up to $ 75,000 will receive full payments, as will couples with incomes up to $ 150,000. Payments would decrease for rents above these limits, gradually leaving above $ 100,000 for individuals and $ 200,000 for couples.
Some lawmakers argued that checks should be directed to low-income families, citing research that shows that high-income families are recovering from the economic impact of the pandemic. But other research indicates widespread financial pain across the country, with the ranks of adults struggling financially in the past month, little changed since December, according to Morning Consult economist John Leer.
A third round of $ 1,400 checks would allow nearly 23 million adults to pay their expenses for more than four months without incurring further debt or consuming their savings, his analysis concluded.
“This third stimulus check is absolutely vital,” Colleen McCreary, credit director for Credit Karma, told CBS MoneyWatch. “I don’t see a world where people have a solid financial position without some additional stimulus money.”