President Biden’s COVID-19 stimulus bill is on the brink of becoming law. Here’s where it stands
marathon session. Once the House has passed the legislation, it will go to Biden for his signature, and then stimulus checks will start to go out in a matter of weeks.
Here’s where the stimulus bill stands ahead of its likely passage this week:
When will the House pass the bill?
The House is expected to pass the bill this week and as early as Tuesday evening. The House Rules Committee must first set the parameters for debate, and then the House must vote to approve the rules of debate.
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Does the House have the votes to pass the bill?
The House very likely will pass the bill. House Democratic leadership has voiced confidence in their ability to pass it even if no Republicans vote for it.
threshold for stimulus checks and lowering the weekly unemployment benefit to $300 a week.
Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, D-N.J., told USA TODAY she was considering “making a statement” once the bill came up for a House vote and voting against it because of all of the progressive priorities that had been pared from the bill, such as an increase in the minimum wage.
“We spent a lot of time listening to the Senate nickel-and-dime what was going into the bill,” she said.
“As progressives,” she said, “we’re going to have to figure out where the line in the sand is.”
The bill passed the House already. Why does it have to vote on it again?
The House first passed the bill at the end of February. The Senate took it up the next week, and it made changes to the bill’s provisions. A key Senate official, the parliamentarian, ruled that a provision increasing the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour could not stay in the final legislation, for example.
The Senate also lowered the unemployment benefit to $300 a week, down from $400 in the first version of the legislation the House passed, but extended it through the beginning of September, and made the first $10,200 of unemployment benefits non-taxable for households making less than $150,000.
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When will I get a stimulus check?
Once the bill is signed into law, $1,400 stimulus checks could start going out in a number of weeks if they follow the same timeline as previous rounds.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday that the Biden administration was still working through the “mechanics” of sending out checks.
Under changes made by the Senate, most Americans earning up to $75,000 would receive a full payment, and those earning between $75,000 and $80,000 would receive a partial payment. The payments phase out for those earning above $80,000. Unlike previous rounds of checks, adult dependents would receive a full $1,400 payment.
More:$1,400 checks could start arriving within weeks under latest COVID-19 relief package
Contributing: Michael Collins