Congressional leaders on Sunday reached a deal on a $900 billion COVID-19 economic relief package that includes $600 direct payments to Americans and $300 in enhanced unemployment for the next 10 weeks, House Speaker Nancy Speaker and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said.
The $600 checks will only go out to individuals making less than $75,000 a year or couples making less than $150,000. Similar to the CARES Act, individuals making between $75,000 and $100,000 will receive gradually smaller payments while individuals making $100,000 or more will not receive a stimulus check.
Dependents will be receiving $600 this time, rather than $500.
A $908 billion bipartisan proposal initially left out so-called stimulus checks, focusing instead on providing jobless workers with an additional $300 in weekly unemployment aid. But a last-minute addition to the package could include another round of payments of $600 for individuals, according to analysts with investment bank Raymond James.
That’s half of the $1,200 payments distributed to about 160 million Americans under the $2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security, or CARES, Act this spring. Some senators, including Bernie Sanders of Vermont, have insisted that any new relief bill include another round of checks worth $1,200 for low- and middle-income Americans. Sanders, who is joined by Josh Hawley, a Republican senator from Missouri, pledged to force a vote on the proposal before lawmakers adjourn for the year on December 18.
Hawley said on Wednesday that the potential for a round of checks, even at $600 per adult, was a “good movement in the right direction.” But, he added, “I think it needs to be $1,200.”
Negotiations had continued through the weekend. An eleventh-hour proposal by a Republican lawmaker had stalled negotiations as Friday morning. Senate Majority Whip John Thune highlighted a suggestion by Senator Pat Toomey to wind down the Federal Reserve’s emergency lending programs. – READ MORE
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