President Trump approved legislation late Sunday night to provide the funding to avoid a government shutdown and for a second round of coronavirus stimulus measures, including a $600 direct payment that eligible residents in the Santa Clarita Valley can expect to be delivered in coming weeks.
Known as the 2021 Consolidated Appropriations Bill, the legislation combined the annual appropriations bill which must be passed to fund the government and avoid a shutdown with COVID-19 stimulus relief.
In total, the bill included $1.4 trillion in regular appropriations funding and another $900 billion for the COVID-19 stimulus package.
Last week, President Trump scoffed at the $600 offered to Americans, railed on a number of items included in the appropriations portion of the bill, and called on Congress to include $2,000 in direct payments.
After initially refusing to sign the legislation, Trump relented Sunday night and provided his signature.
With its passage, eligible adults can now expect to receive a direct payment similar to the payments included in the CARES Act in March.
The new legislation includes $600 for each eligible adult and an additional $500 for each child dependent age 16 years or younger.
To qualify for a stimulus payment, one must be a U.S. citizen, permanent resident or qualifying resident alien; not be a dependent on someone else’s return and have a valid Social Security number.
The payment decreases $5 for each $100 of annual income above $75,000 for individuals, $112,500 for heads of households or $150,000 for married couples filing jointly.
In other words, neither individuals making more than $99,000 are eligible for stimulus payments nor are married couples making more than $198,000.
The bill also includes $300 per week in expanded federal unemployment benefits through March, down from the $600 per week in the CARES Act.
As of Monday there is no official timeline for the payments to be delivered, however as recently as last week Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin assured payments would be timely.
“The good news is this is a very, very fast way of getting money into the economy,” said Mnuchin in a phone interview with CNBC on Dec. 21. “Let me emphasize: people are going to see this money at the beginning of next week.”
That statement came prior to the delay caused by Trump’s previous refusal to sign, which will have impacted the initial projected timeline.
On Monday, CNBC reported that the Treasury Department anticipates being able to start delivering the $600 direct stimulus payments included in the COVID relief legislation by the end of this week, according to a senior Treasury Department official.
In response to Trump’s calls for a $2,000 payment to Americans, the House of Representatives voted 275-134 Monday evening to approve legislation which increases stimulus checks to $2,000 for eligible Americans.
“The President must immediately call on congressional Republicans to end their obstruction and to join him and Democrats in support of our stand-alone legislation to increase direct payment checks to $2,000, which will be brought to the Floor tomorrow,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in a statement after Trump signed the stimulus legislation Sunday evening. “Every Republican vote against this bill is a vote to deny the financial hardship that families face and to deny the American people the relief they need.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) blocked attempts by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) and Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) to bring the House bill to the Senator floor for a vote on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively, by unanimous consent.
McConnell acknowledged that Trump “would like further direct financial support for American households,” but did not specify why he objected. However, Senate rules allow any one senator to block efforts to set up votes or pass bills.
“During this process, the president highlighted three additional issues of national significance he would like to see Congress tackle together,” McConnell said. “Those are the three important subjects the president has linked together. This week the Senate will begin a process to bring these three priorities into focus.”
The two subjects in addition to the increased stimulus payments McConnell referenced were Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which provides protections for companies that host third-party content on their platforms like Facebook and Twitter and has been a subject of Trump’s ire in his clashes with the tech companies, and election security in a nod to the president’s claims of election fraud.
In response to McConnell’s objection to bringing the bill for $2,000 payments forward, Sanders then objected to the majority leader’s attempt to quickly bring forward a vote to override Trump’s veto of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
As of Tuesday, five Republican senators, Kelly Loeffler (R-Georgia), David Perdue, (R-Georgia), Lindsey Graham, (R-South Carolina); Josh Hawley, (R-Missouri) and Marco Rubio (R-Florida), have backed the House legislation for $2,000 stimulus checks. However, seven more Senate Republicans would be required to support the checks in order to break a filibuster and set the issue for an up-or-down vote.
That would also depend on if McConnell brings the stimulus check bill back to the floor.
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