After hearing that Senate Democrats can limit who can receive the $ 1,400 stimulus payment included in the American Rescue Plan, Marissa Ortega felt her heart squeeze.
The 25-year-old Washington DC resident planned to use the money to rebuild her savings account after supporting her mother, grandmother and aunt last year. Ortega makes good money as a software engineer and did not lose his job during the pandemic. But she had to send thousands of dollars to her family members – the three women, who raised Ortega, live in the same house in Texas – to help them with their own financial problems related to Covid.
She is one of many Americans frustrated that the Senate could change the income limits for paying the $ 1,400 stimulus. In the bill approved by the House, direct payments are eliminated completely for individuals who earn $ 100,000 or more in adjusted gross income (AGI) per year, $ 120,000 for single parents and $ 200,000 for couples (who would receive $ 2,800). The Senate is reportedly changing the limit so that no individual who earns more than $ 80,000 and no couple who earns more than $ 160,000 receives one.
The result: about 12 million fewer adults and 4.6 million fewer children would be eligible for the third stimulus payment. And about $ 12 billion eliminated the $ 1.9 trillion relief account.
The lower income limit for receiving the full amount – up to $ 75,000 for individuals, $ 112,500 for single parents and $ 150,000 for couples – currently remains the same. This is the second time that Democrats have discussed lowering income limits for the third direct payment. Ortega says this would be a mistake.
“It may not look like people with higher incomes are suffering, but there is a ton of income that just doesn’t tell you,” says Ortega. “I know I’m not the only one who added expenses for the pandemic.”
White House press secretary Jen Psaki defended the changes at a news conference on Thursday, saying that 98% of Americans who received the second stimulus payment will still qualify for the third, a statement supported by Model estimates Penn-Wharton Budget Committee. She also said that the $ 1,400 check will make many families significantly more money than the $ 600 payments. Of course, the last point would remain if the income limits remained the same.
Still, Ortega says it looks like President Joe Biden is reneging on his promise to send checks for $ 2,000 to Americans in financial distress.
“Now it’s not $ 2,000 anymore, it’s $ 1,400,” she says. “And now they are changing the limit, changing who wins. Is it the same check? Obviously not.”
‘Slap in the face’
Heather Jackson, 42, also lost no income during the pandemic and will still qualify for payment, but says the cuts are arbitrary and hurt families like hers. Jackson has seven children and worries about other parents just over the income limit.
The Indiana resident says that daycare costs increased for many families during the pandemic, as did the cost of basic products. It makes no sense for a couple without children and an income of $ 150,000 to receive $ 2,800, while a couple with dependents who earn just over $ 160,000 receive nothing, she says.
Anyone with children who meet income eligibility requirements will receive $ 1,400 for each dependent child, as well as for each dependent adult.
Rosemarie McKinney, 52, says the move is similar to a “slap in the face” for middle-class Americans who do not qualify for other public assistance as SNAP benefits, but have had to cope with rising costs for food and other items essential during the pandemic.
“I certainly don’t want to be seen as resentful of people with limited resources,” says McKinney, who lives in the state of New York. “But, to limit the limit of those who would be eligible for this stimulus, it’s just ridiculous with all the spending [toward] Special projects.'”
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