Third stimulus check

The House has passed the $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill. Now it's up to the Senate, which may end up changing it and send it back to the House.

President Joe Biden announced a $1.9 trillion coronavirus plan which included $1,400 stimulus checks to struggling Americans. The “American Rescue Plan” would deliver another round of aid to stabilize the economy while the public health effort seeks the upper hand on the pandemic. The bill would also include pumping billions of dollars in aid to state and local governments as well as additional aid to businesses impacted by the pandemic.

The legislation provides a third stimulus check that amounts to $1,400 for a single taxpayer, or $2,800 for a married couple that files jointly, plus $1,400 per dependent. Individuals earning up to $75,000 would get the full amount as would married couples with incomes up to $150,000.

The size of the check would shrink for those making slightly more with a hard cut-off at $100,000 for individuals and $200,000 for married couples.

Some Republicans want to cut the size of the rebate as well as the pool of Americans eligible for it, but Biden has insisted on $1,400 checks, saying “that’s what the American people were promised.” The new round of checks will cost the government an estimated $422 billion.

Why $1,400 checks and not $2,000?

Biden's plan called for $1,400 checks for most Americans, which on top of the $600 provided in the most recent COVID-19 bill would bring the total to the $2,000 that Biden has called for. 

But Biden initially did not make that differentiation. Biden said on January 4 while campaigning for Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock ahead of Georgia's Senate runoff elections, "Their election will put an end to the block in Washington of that $2,000 stimulus check. That money that will go out the door immediately."