President Joe Biden’s $ 1.9 billion coronavirus relief plan is moving forward, raising hopes of another round of stimulus checks for most Americans. The House passed the bill early Saturday, and the legislation is now in the hands of the Senate.
In a brief remark after the vote in the House, Mr. Biden said he hopes for swift action from senators over the spending package, called the U.S. bailout plan.
“We have no time to waste. If we act decisively, swiftly and boldly now, we can finally get ahead of this virus,” he said. “We can finally get our economy back on track. And the people of this country have suffered too much for too long. We need to alleviate the suffering. The American rescue plan is just doing it.”
The Senate has begun debate on the emergency relief package On Friday, pressure began to get the final bill to the president’s desk before several major relief programs expire on March 14. While the 628-page bill enjoys the support of all 50 Senate Democrats, Republicans are aiming to slow it down by forcing votes on dozens of amendments. The so-called ‘vote-a-rama’ could last until the weekend, although Republicans could not block the bill.
“We expect the Senate to pass the COVID Rescue Bill with the House this weekend to pass this version next week and send it to the President for signature,” Benjamin Salisbury of Height Securities noted in a Friday research note.
If the bill is passed by the Senate over the weekend, analysts say, it could quickly go to Mr. Biden’s desk moves for his signature. According to Chris Krueger of Cowen & Co. already landed a third stimulus check in eligible bank accounts over the weekend of March 13th.
“By next weekend, a couple earning less than $ 160,000 could deposit $ 2,800 into their checking account,” he said in a research note.
Less checks?
Congress still needs to iron out wrinkles that have arisen during negotiations. Among the issues are the revenue limits for stimulus checks, with a new agreement between mr. Biden and moderate Democratic senators who would limit the number of households eligible for the $ 1,400 checks. The revised limits would not entitle millions of Americans to the payment.
Some legislators have also called for more targeted stimulus tests, arguing that lower-income households are more in need than middle- and higher-income families.
Under the current agreement, confirmed by CBS News, direct payments of $ 1,400 to $ 75,000 for individuals would begin to be phased out, but it would reduce entry to individuals earning more than $ 80,000. For couples filing a joint federal income tax return, the phasing out will begin for those earning $ 150,000 and end at $ 160,000.
“I wanted the income threshold to be kept at previous levels” – $ 75,000 for singles and $ 150,000 for couples – Oregon Senator Ron Wyden said in a call with reporters on Wednesday. “And we succeeded.”
He added: “I would have preferred what we had before, but I do not want to detract people from the basic performance” to maintain the $ 75,000 and $ 150,000 income thresholds.
Minimum wage issue
Another problem is a provision in the House Measure that will increase the federal minimum wage by 2025 to $ 15 per hour. The Senate Bill is unlikely to increase after the The Senate MP decided on Thursday that the salary increase cannot be included in the version of the legal aid of the upper chamber.
In light of the roadblocks, a “plan B” is to tax some large businesses lower than an unspecified wage, as proposed by some Senate Democrats. now off the table, a senior Democratic assistant told CBS News.
“The bill has an increasingly direct path to a procedural decision to remove the minimum wage issue from the table,” Benjamin Salisbury, an analyst at Height Securities, said in a research note. He gives the U.S. bailout plan an 85% chance to go through the Senate and become law.
Although the loss of the wage increase is a blow to low-income workers, the analyzes, according to analysts, will help mid-March speed up the bill to mid-March. The Senate can vote on the package later this week, and according to analysts, the House will cast the final vote over the weekend of March 6 or during the week of March 8.
If approved, another massive injection of money into the economy could help stimulate a boom, with Oxford Economics’ US economist Gregory Daco predicting growth of around 7% in 2021 amid the tightening demand from consumers and businesses. This is the fastest pace of American expansion since the early 1980s,
Passage before March 14?
Democrats are pushing to pass the bill before March 14, when the current extra $ 300 weekly unemployment benefit expires. A recent Senate agreement would extend the $ 300 boost to September, as opposed to the House bill that would increase the increase to $ 400 per week until August.
In addition to the $ 1400 checks, the account would fund money for small businesses, schools and cities and states; offer families with children a tax break; and increase government spending on COVID-19 testing and contact tracing.
To be sure, disputes or disagreements can still derail the bill. But Democrats use a process called budget reconciliation to pass the law, which means only a simple majority in the Senate is needed for approval, rather than the 60 votes most bills need to overcome a potential filibuster. In other words, Democrats do not need the support of Republican senators to pass the bailout plan.
IRS timeline
If the bill is passed on March 12, the Friday before extra unemployed aid expires, incentive tests could begin to reach bank accounts, a few days to a week later, based on the IRS ‘time frame for distributing the second round of stimulus tests in December.
Earlier this month, the IRS said it was taking into account the relief bill to prepare for the spread of the next round of payments. “We are keeping a close eye on the hill,” said Ken Corbin, the IRS’s chief taxpayer experience officer, although he did not predict when the tax agency would be able to hand out the checks.
The IRS relies on a taxpayer’s most recent tax return to determine how much they should receive and when they can receive it. That’s why some tax experts ask taxpayers submit their return as soon as possible, especially if they have had a major life change, such as the birth of a child or the loss of job or income last year.
Since the IRS officially begins accepting tax returns on February 12 and will close the filing window on its usual April 15 date, the plan could be implemented in the middle of the tax filing season.
If a taxpayer does not file their tax returns for 2020 before Congress passes its next relief bill, the agency is likely to rely on their 2019 tax return to calculate their payment from a stimulus check – and that the 2019 proceeds may not include revenue losses. during the economic crisis of last year. or for example a new child. In that case, a taxpayer may not receive as much incentive money as he is entitled to.
Income limits
The income of someone determines the most important question whether they will get a check as well as the payment amount.
The payments are $ 1400 for a single person or $ 2800 for a cohabiting couple. Only individuals earning up to $ 75,000 will receive the full payment, as well as married couples with an income of up to $ 150,000. Payments will drop for income above the threshold.
In terms of the agreement with mr. Biden will cut off the Senate bill to single people with incomes in excess of $ 80,000 and married couples earning more than $ 160,000. Under the first stimulus test, the cuts were higher: $ 100,000 for individuals and $ 200,000 for married couples.
Some lawmakers have argued that the checks should be aimed at lower-income families, citing research showing that higher-income families are recovering due to the economic impact of the pandemic. But other research points to widespread financial pain in the country, and the number of adults experiencing financial difficulties last month has changed little since December, according to John Leer, an economist at Morning Consult.
A third round of $ 1,400 checks would enable nearly 23 million adults to pay their expenses for more than four months without incurring more debt or eating up their savings, according to his analysis.
“The third stimulus check is absolutely essential,” Colleen McCreary, senior staff member at Credit Karma, told CBS MoneyWatch. “I do not see a world where people would have their financial position without extra money.”