What’s next for $1,400 checks? Biden signs stimulus plan, clearing way to send funds
President Joe Biden signed the $1.9 trillion coronavirus plan into law on Thursday afternoon, clearing the way to send $1,400 stimulus checks to Americans during the pandemic.
Biden signed the plan around 2:00 p.m. on Thursday instead of Friday as originally planned.
“This legislation is about giving the backbone of this nation — the essential workers, the working people who built this country, the people who keep this country going — a fighting chance,” Biden said in a statement Wednesday.
On Wednesday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the American Rescue Plan 220-211, successfully approving the bill before the Democrats’ self-imposed deadline of March 14, the date when enhanced unemployment benefits expire. Congress is now on track to implement the legislation before millions of Americans lose their jobless benefits.
Rep. Jared Golden, a Maine Democrat, joined all Republicans in voting against the bill.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Tuesday that Biden’s signature won’t be on the direct payments so millions of Americans will be able to get the checks this month, Business Insider reported.
“We’re doing everything in our power to expedite the payments and not delay them, which is why the president’s name will not appear on the memo line of this round of stimulus checks,” Psaki said.
Biden also said that $1,400 stimulus checks will start going out to Americans this month and that more than 85% of households will qualify to receive payments, Reuters reported.
No Republicans voted for the plan in either the Senate or House. Democrats passed the deal under budget reconciliation, which allows for “expedited consideration” of legislation on spending, taxes and debt, allowing them to bypass the 60-vote requirement for advancing the legislation in the Senate.
Democrats were forced to abandon a federal minimum wage increase to $15 per hour after the Senate parliamentarian ruled that the provision couldn’t be passed under the reconciliation process.
In order to keep the support of the entire Democratic caucus in the Senate, federal unemployment benefits were kept at $300 per week through September instead of raised to $400 through Aug. 29 as proposed in the House’s version of the bill.
Democrats also tightened the income limits for Americans receiving stimulus checks. Under the House’s bill, payments would’ve been gradually phased out and cut off for individuals making $100,000 and couples making $200,000.
Here’s who’s eligible for stimulus checks under the new law.
Are you eligible for a stimulus check?
Eligibility will be determined by a taxpayer’s most recent tax return, meaning if you’ve already filed your taxes for 2020 by the time the payments are sent out, the amount you receive will be based on your 2020 adjusted gross income. The IRS will use your 2019 return if you haven’t filed taxes yet this year.
Under the legislation, individuals making under $75,000 and couples making under $150,000 will get the full $1,400 payment, plus $1,400 per child or adult dependent. The plan will send reduced checks to people earning more than $75,000 and $150,000 for joint filers, and cap the payments at earnings of $80,000 and $160,000, respectively.
Single parents will get the full amount if they have at least one dependent and make $112,500 or less. Families with at least one person who has a Social Security number will also be eligible for direct payments, even if some members have different immigration or citizenship classifications.
When will checks arrive?
The first round of direct payments is set to go out before the beginning of April, according to CNET.
But, when your stimulus check actually arrives depends on how long it takes for the IRS to process the funds and the form of payment you’ve been issued.
For December’s stimulus bill, the IRS began sending out stimulus checks three days after then-President Donald Trump signed the bill into law, but it’s possible that the checks could be delayed this time due to tax filing season happening at the same time, CNN reported.
People whose bank information is on hand with the IRS will most likely get their checks first because they would be directly deposited into their bank accounts while others will have to wait for prepaid debit cards and paper checks to arrive in the mail.
Since the bill was signed into law by March 11, the first round of direct payments could be sent out the week of March 22, paper checks could be sent out the week of March 29 and people could receive payments through prepaid debit cards during the week of April 5, CNET reported using the same timeline seen during December’s roll-out of the $600 stimulus checks.
Lawmakers react to passing stimulus package
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, commended the passage of the stimulus plan after the House vote.
“Today is an historic day. It is a day of fulfillment as the Democratic House passes the Biden American Rescue Plan, joining in President Biden’s promise to the American people: Help Is On The Way,” Pelosi said Wednesday in a news release.
Golden also explained that he voted against the legislation due to the “overall size and scope of the bill.”
“My vote today should not be construed as an unwillingness to support my constituents and the economy through this pandemic. That very willingness is why I have supported $4 trillion in spending in the last year on food assistance, child care subsidies, relief for renters and homeowners, federal unemployment assistance and support for small businesses,” Golden said in a statement.
“However, many of these programs are not currently at risk of running out of funding, thanks to the nearly $1 trillion bill we passed in late December, and some of these programs are only just now beginning to be distributed to people in Maine,” Golden said.
Republicans have strongly rebuked passing the legislation after criticizing its price tag and calling for more “targeted” relief for families during the pandemic by lowering the income threshold requirements for direct payments.
“House Democrats have abandoned any pretense of unity,” said House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican. “This isn’t a rescue bill, it isn’t a relief bill. It’s a laundry list of left-wing priorities that predate the pandemic.”
This story was originally published March 10, 2021 at 1:13 PM with the headline "What’s next for $1,400 checks? Biden signs stimulus plan, clearing way to send funds."