Getty House Democrats are calling for another round of stimulus checks in their new $2.2 trillion proposal.
The negotiations have seemed to drag on forever. Democrats and Republicans in Congress have repeatedly indicated that they support giving the American people a second $1,200 stimulus check. But they’ve ground on and on and on with no movement.
Is a $1,200 check (or $3,400 for a family of four) still possible?
The answer is yes. In fact, President Donald Trump tweeted this on Oct. 7: “If I am sent a Stand Alone Bill for Stimulus Checks ($1,200), they will go out to our great people IMMEDIATELY. I am ready to sign right now. Are you listening Nancy? ”
He was referring to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. There are two issues here. One is that both sides are likely calculating how a second round of checks would help or hurt their candidate in the November presidential election. Does Pelosi really want a second round of checks bearing Trump’s name to go out before November 3? In contrast, Republicans may think it hurts Democrats politically to paint them as blocking a second round of checks (and vice versa). Thus, although another round of checks is possible, there’s a lot of political gamesmanship going on – on both sides – and it’s possible it won’t happen until after the election.
Pelosi did reveal recently that Democratic and Republican negotiators are “making progress.” They’ve come closer in compromise amounts proposed. The other problem is that neither side has been able to agree on the overall cost of a second relief plan, with Democrats wanting more money than Republicans do. However, Trump’s call to split out the checks on their own could take care of that.
Also in the mix: Another extension of extra unemployment benefits.
Here’s what you need to know:
Pelosi Said Both Sides ‘Are Making Progress’ & ‘Relief Is on the Way’
GettyU.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Pelosi sounded optimistic on Sunday, October 4, when she made the rounds on talk shows. Here is what she said, according to the CBS News transcript.
Well- well we are making progress. Well we were trying to get that done in the House, but the Republicans object- objected. But what I said to the airline executives in a public statement is, don’t fire people. You know, that relief is on the way. So, and it will be retroactive. So let’s keep them employed because, separate from other industries, when you’re fired- when you’re let go in the airline industry, it takes months or years to be recertified, reclassified all of that, security clearances and the rest. Not like if somebody has another kind of a job, they leave, they come back. So that’s- that makes a difference. But also–
Margaret Brennan, the host, asked, “Could that come this week?” Pelosi responded:
That just depends on if they understand what we have to do to crush the virus. You can’t just say we need- we need to do something, but we’re going to let the virus run free. Now, it’s even run free in the White House. Think of how it is in a poor neighborhood where the president is insisting that children actually go back to school in order to get the funding that he is recommending. These poor kids are largely minority children. People exposed to the virus are largely minority. Everybody’s affected. But the death toll in the lack of- of testing and tracing in the minority community has had a very negative impact. So we have to be serious about this. One of the, let me just back up for a second and say this. For a long time, the Republicans in Congress and this president have been antiscience. They don’t trust science and they don’t believe in governance. So if science says you should be test- testing,–
The consensus seems to be that a second check would be $1,200 per taxpayer or $3,400 for a family of four like the first round. However, both sides seem to be settling on $500 per dependent with an expansion of the number of dependents who would qualify to rectify the issue that a lot of college students were left out of the first round.
There is an updated House plan on the table. It passed the House but would need support of the Republican-controlled Senate. According to the House Committee on Appropriations, the updated Heroes Act “provides additional direct payments, cushioning the economic blow of the coronavirus crisis with a more robust second round of economic impact payments of $1,200 per taxpayer and $500 per dependent.”
The new Democratic plan would also give people $600 a week in extra unemployment benefits.
President Trump Tweeted That Lawmakers Should Get Relief Done But Then Stopped Overall Negotiations
Trump TwitterPresident Trump
Republicans want a plan closer to $1.5 trillion, according to CNBC. However, Trump said Pelosi had rejected that and he wrote on Twitter that he had “instructed my representatives to stop negotiating until after the election.” However, that referred to the overall stimulus plan, not the narrower suggestion that checks could be approved separately.
The president later tweeted, “The House & Senate should IMMEDIATELY Approve 25 Billion Dollars for Airline Payroll Support, & 135 Billion Dollars for Paycheck Protection Program for Small Business. Both of these will be fully paid for with unused funds from the Cares Act. Have this money. I will sign now!”
“If it starts with a 2, it’s going to be a real problem,” White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows told Reuters on September 30.
According to CBS News, Pelosi responded to the president’s tweets, saying, “Today, once again, President Trump showed his true colors: putting himself first at the expense of the country, with the full complicity of the GOP Members of Congress,” Pelosi said. “Walking away from coronavirus talks demonstrates that President Trump is unwilling to crush the virus.”
Trump has made a second stimulus plan a focus on Twitter. On October 3, Trump wrote, “OUR GREAT USA WANTS & NEEDS STIMULUS. WORK TOGETHER AND GET IT DONE. Thank you!” The president can’t get stimulus checks done on his own because the Constitution gave funding authorities to Congress.
According to CNBC, September’s job report was weak, driving need for another stimulus package.
Washington Post reporter Jeff Stein tweeted that there seems to be some hope, “Oh boy twitter. (Treasury Secretary Steven) Mnuchin just now on talks with Pelosi: ‘We have reached an agreement that if there is a deal there will be direct payments’ — meaning the $1,200 stimulus checks. Still need the deal tho!”
Forbes reported that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Mnuchin were resuming talks on October 1. “We’ll have to see. If we have an agreement, we’re going to pass that agreement, then we’re done until after the election,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said then, according to Forbes.
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