A second round of stimulus checks was expected to reach the bank accounts of millions of Americans as early as next week, thanks to the $ 900 billion economic aid package that Congress spent Monday night. But President Donald Trump’s sudden insistence on Tuesday that lawmakers increase stimulus checks from $ 600 to $ 2,000 per person is now calling into question the timing and amount of checks.
The unrest comes after Congress added checks of $ 600 per person to the bill during last-minute negotiations, an amount that was considered too low by some lawmakers, like Senators Bernie Sanders of Vermont, an independent, and Josh Hawley of Missouri, a Republican. Mr. Trump seemed to agree with the critics, saying in one video posted on Twitter on December 22, that he would not sign the financial aid package, calling stimulus checks “ridiculously low.”
“I’m asking Congress to amend this bill and raise the ridiculously low $ 600 to $ 2,000, or $ 4,000 for a couple,” Trump said in the recorded message.
On Thursday, Democrats tried to approve direct payments of $ 2,000 by unanimous consent during a pro forma session, but were blocked by House Republicans.
“On Monday, I will bring the Chamber back to the session, where we will hold a registered vote on our independent bill to increase economic impact payments to $ 2,000. Voting against this bill is to deny the financial difficulties that families face. and deny them the relief they need, “spokeswoman Nancy Pelosi said in a statement after the measure.
The $ 600 checks directed by the relief bill would account for half of the $ 1,200 directed to most adults in the first round of stimulus checks. Critics said the aid would be useful, but not enough to help families that have suffered loss of income or jobs since the coronavirus pandemic it paralyzed the economy in March and caused unemployment to rise.
Nearly 6 out of 10 consumers say they suffered a financial blow due to the pandemic in late November, according to a recent study by TransUnion, which also found that 40% of these families were betting on the prospect of another stimulus check to help them to pay your bills.
Trump’s reaction is raising new questions for millions of Americans awaiting the next round of checks.
How likely are checks for $ 2,000?
Democrats are supporting Trump’s request for $ 2,000 checks – but it is unclear how many Republicans will participate because the proposal for larger payments would cost about $ 530 billion, or about $ 385 billion more than Congress approved. with the $ 600 checks, according to Heights Securities.
House Democrats said they plan to offer an account for $ 2,000 stimulus checks this Thursday, and will try to approve it by unanimous consent, since no one will be in the room to vote. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tweeted on Tuesday night in support of the $ 2,000 checks, writing, “Let’s do this!”
She added that Republicans “repeatedly refused to say how much the president wanted for direct checks” during the lengthy negotiations.
Wall Street analysts say they believe the current bill – with checks for $ 600, approved by large bipartisan majorities in both houses of Congress – is more likely to move forward, however.
“Our basic case remains that the bill passed by Congress will become law,” analyst Ed Mills of Raymond James said in a December 22 research note.
What about the time for checks?
With Trump’s reaction, it seems increasingly unlikely that stimulus checks will start reaching people’s bank accounts as early as next week, as Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin predicted on December 21.
Another round of negotiations could delay the project for several days, while a Trump veto could delay the approval of a project by weeks.
There are a few ways in which this can happen, according to Wall Street analysts. Congress could agree to the $ 2,000 checks early next week, paving the way for Trump to sign the bill, but it is unclear whether Republican lawmakers will agree to the change, Heights Securities noted.
If Trump vetoes the bill, “things can really fall apart,” Heights Securities said. Congress may try to approve the bill again in the new session of Congress, which begins on January 3, but lawmakers may seek to revise certain provisions of the bill, such as the amount per stimulus check, which may delay approval again, they predicted. .
What about $ 600 checks?
For now, some analysts say the $ 600 check account is more likely to go ahead, although the path is “complicated,” said Raymond James’ Mills.
The checks would represent half the amount directed at most U.S. families in the spring, when the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (or CARES Act) authorized checks for $ 1,200 for eligible adults.
However, according to the bill passed by Congress, a group of people would receive more money in the second round of stimulus checks than in the first: dependent children, who would receive the same $ 600 checks as adults, above $ 500 checks that children received under the CARES Act in the spring.
Single people who earn up to $ 75,000 will receive $ 600, while couples who earn up to $ 150,000 will receive $ 1,200.
The second round of checks would have the same type of revenue elimination as in the CARES Act, with payments of stimulus checks reduced to earnings above $ 75,000 per single person or $ 150,000 per couple.
The amount of payment that individuals receive would be reduced by $ 5 for every $ 100 of income earned over those limits, according to the House’s appropriations committee. This is similar to the CARES Act, but fewer taxpayers with higher income would qualify for checks under this formula compared to the previous bill.
The second stimulus check would be completely eliminated for single people who earn more than $ 87,000 or couples who earn more than $ 174,000 – compared to the phasing out of the CARES Act for singles who earn more than $ 99,000 and for couples who earn more than $ 198,000.
To check how much you can get, you can go to the second Omni Calculator stimulus calculator for an estimate.
$ 600 for each “dependent” child
In addition to smaller stimulus checks for adults, the other major change in the bill passed by Congress is the amount provided for dependent children: $ 600 for each child, compared to $ 500 in the CARES Act.
However, the bill states that $ 600 would go to each dependent child under the age of 17, which means that adults who, despite everything, are declared dependent – such as college students and older high school students – are not eligible. would qualify for checks.
Adult dependents, such as elderly people declared dependent on their adult children’s tax returns, would also not be eligible for checks. Excluding college students and other adult dependents was a matter of debate with the first round of checks, with some families arguing that older dependents should also qualify for payments.
A family of two parents with two dependent children can receive up to $ 2,400 under the provision, lawmakers said.
“Mixed status” families
Couples that include a immigrant without Green Card it would also qualify for checks, a provision that is retroactive to the CARES Act, the summary said.
This is important for many families because the first round of stimulus checks was only granted to US citizens or immigrants with resident alien status, also known as a Green Card. Legal immigrants without a Green Card, as well as undocumented immigrants, were excluded – and American citizens married to immigrants without a Green Card were also excluded, as were their children, even though dependent young people are citizens.
Deny checks to US citizens due to marital or parental relationship with an immigrant lawsuits brought about earlier this year on what the plaintiffs claimed was unconstitutional.
What about Social Security beneficiaries?
A failure in the first stimulus payments was a slower implementation for Social Security beneficiaries, as well as Supplementary Pension Income beneficiaries, Ferrovia Retirement Council beneficiaries and Veterans Administration beneficiaries. Since some of these recipients do not file tax returns – which the IRS trusted to distribute the first stimulus payments – millions of them waited weeks or months to receive their checks.
But the new bill would ensure that these recipients would receive $ 600 checks automatically, according to Senator Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, who worked on a bipartisan stimulus bill that became the framework for the most recent negotiations.
“I am particularly happy that the final text of the aid package includes my bipartisan project to ensure that beneficiaries of Social Security, Supplemental Security Income and certain VA benefits will receive these payments automatically,” said Hassan in an email to CBS MoneyWatch.
This means that millions of Social Security, SSI, VA and Retirement Insurance benefits would not risk losing payment, she added.
Additional stimulus benefits:
$ 300 per week in extra unemployment benefits
In addition to the $ 600 stimulus checks, the bill also includes an extra $ 300 a week in unemployment benefits. This means that unemployed workers would receive their regular unemployment payments from the state, plus an additional $ 300 more by March 14, 2021.
The Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program, which covers self-employed and self-employed workers, would also be extended, as well as the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) program, which provides additional weeks of unemployment benefits for those left behind. without their regular state unemployment benefits.
PPP loans for small businesses
The Paycheck Protection Program would be extended with another $ 284 billion in forgivable loans. Part of the funding will be earmarked for what the project describes as very small companies, through lenders like Minority Depositary Institutions, after criticism that the first round of PPP loans ignored many companies owned by minorities and women.
The PPP program would also expand eligibility for nonprofits and local newspapers, TV and radio stations.
Another $ 20 billion in loans for economic disasters would be earmarked for companies in low-income communities, while $ 15 billion would go to live venues, independent cinemas and cultural institutions, which were forced to cut or close operations due to the pandemic. .