Second stimulus bill: News and updates

Maybe early in the pandemic, you first postponed your 2020 vacation to July, and then from July to March. Now, you know you should just wait and see, but you can’t help yourself and went ahead and booked for August.

That’s basically what Congress has been doing with economic aid such as unemployment insurance during the Covid-19 outbreak. Federal lawmakers have been picking arbitrary end dates for much-needed support, more or less guessing at the end of the pandemic for nearly a year. And it appears that in the latest relief package, set to pass Congress in the coming weeks, they’re about to make the same mistake again: Instead of phasing out benefits when the economy gets better, Congress is setting up yet another cliff later this year.

Most working Americans can expect a second round of stimulus payments via direct deposit, a paper check, or a prepaid debit card to be issued through January 15. The $900 billion spending package passed by Congress will provide much-needed relief for families who’ve gone months without aid: Eligible adults will receive up to $600 each, and each household can receive an additional $600 for every child under the age of 17. The checks will be smaller for households earning between $75,000 and $99,000, and no aid will be extended to those who earn more.

However, the terms and conditions for aid exclude millions of people, some of whom weren’t eligible for the first round of checks either. Elderly or disabled people who are claimed as adult dependents will not receive money; neither will college students or recent graduates who were claimed as dependents on their parents’ 2019 tax returns. (Self-supporting students and individuals who don’t make enough income to file a tax return are able to submit information to the IRS to receive future aid.)

The House of Representatives has voted to increase the latest round of Covid-19 stimulus checks from $600 to $2,000. Even though President Donald Trump supports the move, it is unlikely to get far in the Senate.

On Monday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi held a recorded vote on a standalone bill to increase “economic impact payments” — in other words, stimulus checks — to $2,000. House Democrats attempted a vote by unanimous consent on the matter on Christmas Eve, but it was blocked by House Republicans. This time, it passed the House by a 275-134 vote.

President Donald Trump finally signed a $900 billion relief bill and accompanying spending bill after days of unnecessary waffling.

Trump signed the stimulus package that was passed by Congress days before Christmas on Sunday evening. The package also includes a $1.4 billion funding bill to keep the federal government up and running through September 2021. This brings to a close a confounding and chaotic episode. Had the president not signed, the United States could have seen a federal government shutdown (the existing funding runs out at midnight on Monday), and millions of Americans would have missed out on much-needed aid.

With time running out before the end of Congress’s current session, there’s one tool that President Donald Trump could use to block a new stimulus bill without outright rejecting it: a pocket veto.

As Fox News reporter Chad Pergram explains, the name of this veto comes from presidents’ ability to effectively table bills and put them in their “pocket.”

Earlier this week, it looked like more coronavirus relief was finally on the way, but a surprise speech from President Donald Trump has now thrown that into doubt.

Unsatisfied with the $900 billion stimulus deal that Congress passed on Monday, Trump urged lawmakers to amend the legislation, and threatened to oppose it otherwise. “I am asking Congress to amend this bill and increase the ridiculously low $600 to $2,000 ... and to send me a suitable bill or else the next administration will have to deliver a Covid relief package,” he said in a speech posted to Twitter Tuesday evening. Trump’s chief demands included cutting what he described as extraneous spending and increasing the amount of stimulus checks from $600 to $2,000.

Tucked inside the $900 billion Covid-19 stimulus bill are some pretty big broadband provisions aimed at getting more Americans the internet, at a time when connection is so pivotal in so many parts of everyday life.

The pandemic relief bill, passed by both houses of Congress at the start of the week, sets aside $7 billion in funding for broadband connectivity and infrastructure. That amount includes $3.2 billion for a $50-a-month emergency broadband benefit for low-income households and those that have suffered a significant loss of income in 2020, and a $75-a-month rebate for those living on tribal lands. It also includes $1 billion in grants for tribal broadband programs, $300 million for rural broadband grants, and funds toward telehealth, broadband mapping, and broadband in communities surrounding historically Black colleges and universities.

Congress approved a stimulus package on Monday after reaching a deal on the provisions of the $900 billion plan. Like the $2.2 trillion CARES Act that Congress passed in late March, the second coronavirus stimulus will distribute cash directly to individual Americans as the coronavirus crisis inevitably stretches into 2021.

But the new stimulus checks won’t be exactly like the first ones: Eligible adults will receive up to $600 each — half the amount allotted during the first round of payouts. As with the first round of stimulus, checks will get smaller with higher incomes, at a decreasing rate of $5 less for every additional $100 of income starting at $75,000 and cutting off entirely at $99,000. Couples can receive up to $1,200 and households with children under the age of 17 are eligible for $600 per child.

Just as Congress has finally eked out a $900 billion stimulus bill, President-elect Joe Biden and many Democrats are calling for more aid for the economy. And they have a point.

After months of back-and-forth, Republicans and Democrats were finally able to strike a deal on a new Covid-19 relief package, which both houses of Congress passed on Monday. The bill is much less ambitious than many progressives and prominent Democrats believe is necessary to help people and get the economy back on track, and they’re already setting the stage to battle for more.

Days before the holidays, Congress has passed a $900 billion bill to extend unemployment insurance, pay out additional stimulus checks to Americans and provide more loans for small businesses.

The Democratic-controlled House of Representatives passed the relief bill Monday night on a vote of 359-53, just hours after the final legislative text was released to members. A few hours later, the Republican-controlled US Senate did the same with a vote of 92-6.

At long last, Congress has reached a deal on a new coronavirus stimulus bill.

After eight months of back and forth, Democratic and Republican leaders arrived at an agreement on a roughly $900 billion plan. The House of Representatives will vote on the bill Monday, according to House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer.

The days of surprise medical bills should soon be over.

Congress intends to pass a plan prohibiting most surprise bills as part of its end-of-year spending and Covid-19 relief package, which is expected to be voted on Monday. The inclusion of this provision in the bill brings to a close a nearly two-year debate over how to fix the practice, which sometimes leaves patients who experience a medical emergency facing bills totaling tens of thousands of dollars.

Lawmakers in Washington are attempting to hammer out final details of a new coronavirus stimulus aid package. They must do so before midnight Sunday, when the federal government is currently set to shut down, unless Congress passes legislation attached to the stimulus bill that would keep it open.

Fortunately, leaders of both parties say they are close to a deal.

Just as it seemed Congress might finally reach a deal on a new stimulus package, there was a new and unexpected wrinkle: Some Republicans suddenly discovered they were really worried about a handful of emergency lending programs from the Federal Reserve that most Americans have probably never even heard of.

The issue initially appeared as if it might derail talks, but senators were able to reach an agreement Saturday night amid concerns the Fed scuffle could sideline a relief package altogether.

Food insecurity in the US is the worst it’s been in years, and Congress has a clear way to address it: Expand SNAP.

SNAP, which stands for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, enables eligible individuals and families to get monthly support for food, including a maximum of $204 for an individual and $680 for a family of four in most states. Previously known as food stamps, it’s a form of direct aid accessible to anyone who earns below a certain income threshold and meets other resource requirements.

Congress has delayed a vote on stimulus and government funding — again.

Although lawmakers were originally facing a self-imposed December 18 deadline to get both things done, they’ve postponed it once more by passing another short-term spending bill on Friday. Because Congressional leaders had extended a previous deadline on government funding, they just approved a two-day addition. Now, the House and the Senate have a bit more time to pass the spending legislation and the stimulus bill they intend to attach to it.

Congressional leaders are hard at work this week on a stimulus package that could bring much-needed relief to workers, families, and small businesses. It’s not a moment too soon, as many Americans are struggling to get by after months without help from the federal government.

But there’s a crucial piece missing from the negotiations: paid leave.

Even if Congress gets its act together soon on a new stimulus bill — as is now expected following months of failed negotiations — it has already run out the clock, so much so that millions of unemployed workers will likely still be harmed. It turns out governance via extreme procrastination is not an ideal approach.

After months of a will-they-or-won’t-they dance that’s left workers, businesses, and much of the economy in limbo, lawmakers yet again have a potential deal: a $748 billion proposal to help boost the economy as the Covid-19 pandemic rages on. While it may have some shortcomings — Democrats dropped state and local government aid from the main bill in exchange for Republicans dropping corporate liability protections — it’s not the worst deal in the world, and it does have new payments for the unemployed.

A bipartisan group of senators on Monday introduced two stimulus bills, an effort that could be Congress’s only hope for more Covid-19 relief in the near term.

The proposals include a $748 billion bill, which contains funding for 16 weeks of enhanced unemployment insurance, and a $160 billion bill, which includes money for state and local aid, as well as liability protections for businesses. While lawmakers had hoped to present one comprehensive plan, both state and local aid — and liability protections — were stripped out of the larger legislation because they remain contentious.

Stimulus talks, after a surge in momentum last week, have hit a new roadblock.

There are now two competing proposals in Congress, neither of which has garnered the support needed to move forward.

The clock is ticking on much-needed stimulus for the economy amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Not only is it too late to stop some of the damage, but chances are, any stimulus that does come is going to be much, much too little to be effective.

The latest bipartisan offer on the table in Congress is a $908 billion stimulus bill. It’s a substantial number that’s about $500 billion more than Republicans recently proposed. But according to a new paper from economists Adam Hersh and Mark Paul commissioned by the Groundwork Collaborative — a progressive economic think tank — really reviving the United States economy could require three, even four times that: The pair estimates Congress would need to pass $3 to $4.5 trillion in economic relief in the near term to get the economy to reach its full potential.

It’s almost the end of the year and Congress is, once again, staring down several major deadlines.

First and foremost, the increasingly severe pandemic means there’s huge pressure to pass more coronavirus relief prior to December 31, when multiple aid programs — including unemployment insurance coverage for 12 million people — are poised to expire.

Another Senate vote on a pandemic stimulus bill has failed.

The Wednesday vote on the Republican crafted bill, which included about $500 billion in aid, ended up breaking along party lines, 51-44, and falling short of the 60 votes needed for the legislation to advance. Republicans, broadly, supported moving ahead with the legislation while Democrats did not.