By Lazaro Aleman Riverbend News
Millions of Americans can expect to receive a $600 stimulus at anytime, and some may have already received them, according to U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
Mnuchin is reported to have tweeted on Tuesday evening, Dec. 29, that stimulus checks from the latest COVID relief bills were officially on their way to bank accounts that evening.
The checks, Mnuchin said, could arrive as early as that Tuesday night for those who had direct deposits set up with the IRS and had provided the federal agency with the necessary bank account information when filing their 2019 tax returns.
The direct deposits, Mnuchin tweeted, would begin on Tuesday evening and continue through next week, barring the holidays.
"The paper checks will begin to be mailed tomorrow," Mnuchin tweeted, meaning Wednesday, Dec. 30. "Later this week, you can check the status of your payment at IRS.gov/GetMyPayment."
Those eligible for the checks are qualified adults and their dependents, each of whom will receive $600. This means that a family of four could receive up $2,400. To qualify for the money, an individual's annual income cannot have exceeded $75,000 in 2019; for couples filing jointly, that amount is $150,000 annually.
Meanwhile, Congress, or more specifically the Senate, remained locked in battle over whether to increase the checks to $2,000 per individual and $4,000 for couples, as the president wanted and as the House of Representatives had already voted.
If the larger amount were to be approved, it would mean additional financial help to the millions of Americans facing possible eviction and in dire financial straits due to the loss of income because of job losses during the pandemic.
However, as of Monday afternoon, Jan. 4, Riverbend News press deadline, the Republican-dominated Senate had yet to vote on the increase, despite mounting pressure from the president, allied Republicans and Democrats. It was generally expected, however, that the chamber would vote on the issue before the end of the week.
Lawmakers' frenetic end-of-year activity on an economic relief package came after nine months of inactivity on the issue, following the first round of stimulus checks that Congress approved back in March, when the pandemic started.
After months of negotiation, Congress on Monday, Dec. 21, finally approved a 5,593-page bipartisan bill that, among other things, contained a $900 billion economic relief package assuring direct payments of $600 to adults and children.
President Trump, however, immediately threatened to veto the bill, saying that the $600 payments was a measly amount and calling for it to be increased to $2,000 for individuals and $4,000 for couples.
Then, without explanation, Trump signed the bill into law on Sunday night, Dec. 27, releasing the $900 billion in emergency relief funding to help financially struggling individuals and businesses and averting by just one day a general government shutdown.
Even after signing the bill, however, the president continued to call for an increase of the stimulus checks.
The Democrat-controlled House took this call up and on Monday night, Dec. 28, approved a bill to increase the stimulus checks to $2,000 and $4,000. The measure then went to the Senate, where it was still being debated as of press time.
