Getty What's the status on a second stimulus check?
President Donald Trump gave more hope to Americans who need a second COVID-19 stimulus check. He said in a recent interview in Texas that the checks might be “way higher” than the $1,200 sent out to many Americans last time.
Trump made the comments on July 29 as the U.S. Senate continues to debate the provisions of a second relief package for coronavirus, which is expected to contain a second round of direct payments to Americans. After Trump landed in Texas, he sat down for a one-on-one interview with a local television station, YourBasin.com. That’s when he made the remarks about stimulus checks.
When the journalist asked Trump, “Is $1,200 dollars enough?” the president replied, “We’re going to see it may go higher than that actually.”
The Democratic-controlled House previously passed a plan that would give many Americans a second stimulus check. However, the plan still needs to make it through the Republican-controlled Senate, which has experienced some dissent among Republican ranks over the amount of spending in the broader relief plan. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell put the blame on Democrats for the delay in approving a plan in a tweet, writing, “Democrats are holding up urgent help for struggling people over completely unrelated liberal wish-list items, like massive tax cuts for rich people in blue states. Economists across the spectrum say it’s a terrible idea. This is how serious they are about these negotiations.” McConnell also is now saying it might be “weeks” before a plan is approved, which would push the date back when people would get a second check, possibly into September. Democrats have challenged some Republican stances on the relief plan, such as their desire to cut the $600 weekly unemployment benefit approved to deal with the pandemic.
Here’s what you need to know:
Trump Told the Texas Journalist He Would Like the Second Stimulus Checks to ‘Be Very High’
GettyU.S. President Donald Trump.
The journalist also asked Trump how big he thinks the stimulus checks should be. “Where would you like to see it at?” she asked.
“I’d like to see it be very high because I love the people I want the people to get it you know the economy is going to come back we just had tremendous job numbers as you know it was just announced we had great retail sales numbers so this is all coming back we had the greatest economy we’ve ever had and we had to close it up because you know we had to do it we saved millions of lives by doing that but now we’re bringing it back and now it’s going to come back we gotta take care of the people in the meantime,” Trump told YourBasin.com.
The reporter also asked Trump whether he was happy “with the coronavirus relief package that the Tepublicans are bringing to the table?”
Trump responded: “So we’re working on that right now Katie, it’s being working on that very hard. I think probably we’re going to have something that is going to be very good over the next week or so we want to take care of people that don’t have jobs were taking care of a lot of people very important we have to do it smart but we want we very generous.”
The Republican Plan May Include More Money Due to How Adult Dependents Are Handled
According to Fox Business, the Republican plan, which still needs to come to a vote, would give many Americans another $1,200 check using the same guidelines as last time. Those earning under $75,000 would qualify for the $1,200, whereas those earning up to $99,000 would get gradually smaller amounts.
According to Fox Business, there was a change in the GOP plan, though, that would also give some Americans largest checks this time around. This time, families who have adult dependents (those over age 17) would get an extra $500 for each dependent. This would allow parents of adult college students, for example, to get the payment for each child, as long as they remain an adult dependent.
“A married couple with two children could receive up to $3,400,” Fox explained.
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