It’s been more than four months since Uncle Sam leaked $ 1,200 incentive checks to help Americans deal with the crippling effects of COVID-19 on the U.S. economy. With cases going through the country and millions of Americans not yet out of work, lawmakers are in talks for a second round of checks.
But there is still a lot of speculation on Capitol Hill about competing proposals put forward by aldermen on both sides of the aisle.
Here’s everything we know so far about the potential for another round of checks:
Democrats and Republicans agree that the controls are necessary
Leaders of both parties agree that Americans are hurting and need financial help. House Speaker Mitch McConnell introduced the HEALS Act last month, which would put another $ 1,200 check in the pockets of most American adults.
Democrats have proposed the same another round of payments of $ 1200 with the HEROES Act, which was passed by the House in May.
But the similarities stop there
Partisan gridlock over the total cost of each incentive bill has caused negotiations to continue for weeks, with a clear wave between what both sides want.
Democratic leaders publicly pledged on Friday to negotiate a nearly $ trillion deal after they initially agreed that Republicans would take a $ 3.4 trillion package and pass it on. House Republicans unveiled a proposal for about $ 1 trillion in stimulus spending.
Talks appeared to diminish on Wednesday with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer accusing each other of refusing budgets, just two days after Mnuchin told CNBC that the Trump administration was ready to produce an aid package this week “if we can get a fair deal. ”
“Democrats have compromised,” Pelosi and Schumer said Wednesday. “Once again, we have made it clear to the administration that we are ready to bring down $ 1 trillion if they raise $ 1 trillion. However, it is clear that the administration does not yet understand the extent of the problems facing American families. ‘
Mnuchin, meanwhile, said Pelosi “was not ready to go ahead with the negotiations unless we agreed in advance with her proposal, which cost at least $ 2 trillion.”
“The Democrats have no interest in negotiating,” he added.
Their proposals have strong differences
Central points of disagreement in stimulus legislation talks include a $ 1 trillion Democratic request for state and local aid, which Republicans oppose. Democrats are protesting against a proposed Republican exemption from corporate liability and want to reinstate the $ 600 weekly unemployment rate that expired last month, which Republicans said could encourage people not to work again.
Democrats also want non-citizens with IRS-issued taxpayer numbers eligible for incentive checks, a proposal that has been a non-starter with Republicans.
Even Trump’s name is a sticking point
The first round of inspections, which took place earlier this year, presented the president’s name on her print – a change that delayed the production of inspections by several days – something that Democrats scrapped in their latest proposal. Republicans, however, have shown no inclination to scrub Trump’s name from the controls.
They could arrive as soon as this month – if Congress gets its action together
The Internal Revenue Service was able to send out most of its planned payments of $ 1,200 by the end of August if lawmakers reached a deal to send them out, IRS employee Chad Hooper told CNBC in a report Tuesday.
This is because the tax agency is ‘better positioned’ to distribute the money than it was in April, when taxpayers encountered problems in receiving the payments intended to blunt the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic, according to Hooper.
“The infrastructure is already in place to handle such a payment,” Hooper said.
But Congress just stepped down from its August recession
Many members of Congress left Washington this week for their home states, with lawmakers in recession until Sept. 7. Legislators may, however, be recalled to DC to vote if a deal is reached.
Meanwhile, President Trump is expanding unemployment benefits through executive mandate
Trump on Saturday signed executive orders to extend the weekly unemployment benefits made under the CARES deal, but reduced it to $ 400 from $ 600.
White House economic adviser Peter Navarro said the president should take action to protect Americans after negotiations in the Congressional Ground came to a standstill. But it is not yet clear if the checks will make it to Americans, as it requires government officials to put in place a program to provide the benefit and ask to collect $ 100 of the weekly payments by cash-strapped states
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