Getty House Democrats are calling for another round of stimulus checks in their new $2.2 trillion proposal.
You may have heard that there’s a new plan on the table to give you a second COVID-19 stimulus check.
What gives? Are you really going to get a check again? When? And in what amount? How could you get the $3,400 figure that’s floating around? Here’s the update as of October 4.
The answer is complicated by political dynamics in Congress, by President Donald Trump’s hospitalization, perhaps by the election, and by the continual wars of words erupting between Republicans and Democrats. However, Trump has urged Congress to get a stimulus package done, and with the president himself battling COVID-19, there could be more movement on that front.
The $3,400 figure presumes that you would be a family of four. That’s the amount in the new Democratic stimulus plan, which would give each qualifying taxpayer a $1,200 check like last time and $500 for each dependent. It’s likely that Republicans won’t agree to everything in the new Democratic plan, especially the overall amount of it, but the stimulus check figures do match the amounts Republicans have also proposed. In fact, they represent a compromise by Democrats, who initially were seeking more for each dependent. The kicker is that more dependents are likely to qualify if a plan goes through because both sides have said they want to fix the problem that a lot of college students didn’t get checks last time.
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. The plan did pass the U.S. House on October 1 in a vote. However, that’s where things quickly ground to a halt. The problem is that, although both sides have said they agree on the general concept of stimulus checks again, the proposal contains a lot of other things, and that’s where negotiations tend to break down.
Here’s what we need to know:
President’s Trump’s Tweet About Stimulus Relief Might Spur Some Action
Trump TwitterPresident Trump
Even though he’s battling COVID-19, President Trump made it clear that he wants Democrats and Republicans to get a stimulus package done. He can’t do that on his own because Congress has funding authority per the U.S. Constitution. On October 3, Trump wrote. “OUR GREAT USA WANTS & NEEDS STIMULUS. WORK TOGETHER AND GET IT DONE. Thank you!”
Friday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called the virus “vicious” and said Trump getting it “kind of chances the dynamic” of negotiations she’s having with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. She said there was still “disagreement in key areas.”
Will it happen? According to CNBC, September’s job report was weak, driving need for another stimulus package. But neither side can agree on the overall pricetag for a second stimulus relief plan, even as they conceptually agree to some narrower provisions in it (like stimulus checks.)
The Treasury Secretary Has Said Both Sides Agree on Direct Payments
GettyU.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
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.
Pelosi wrote in a letter, “Democrats are unveiling an updated Heroes Act that serves as our proffer to Republicans to come to negotiations to address the health and economic catastrophe in our country. This $2.2 trillion Heroes Act provides the absolutely needed resources to protect lives, livelihoods and the life of our democracy over the coming months. It includes new funding needed to avert catastrophe for schools, small businesses, restaurants, performance spaces, airline workers and others.”
She added, “It has been more than four months since House Democrats sent the GOP Senate $3.4 trillion in desperately needed coronavirus relief grounded in science and data, and Leader McConnell hit the pause button. In our negotiations with the White House since then, Democrats offered to come down a trillion dollars if Republicans would come up a trillion dollars. Then, we offered to come down $200 billion more, even as the health and economic crisis has worsened and the needs have only grown.”
The White House Says It’s a Problem if the Ultimate Plan Has a ‘2’ in It
GettySenate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
How far apart are the two sides? They’re getting closer, but they’re still quite a ways apart. Initially Republicans wanted $1 trillion as the cap, and Democrats wanted a plan exceeding #3 trillion. Although the Democrats’ proposal represents a compromise from them on the overall amount of the second relief plan, Republicans wanted a plan closer to $1.5 trillion, according to CNBC.
The White House has proposed $1.5 trillion as a counter proposal.
“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 Forbes, Pelosi said that Mnuchin and she “found areas where we are seeking further clarification” and Mnuchin said, “We’re gonna go back and do a little more work again.” Although by no means definitive on the chances of a second check, that’s rhetoric less sharp than previous comments from the two.
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