After President Donald Trump on Wednesday voiced his support for more stimulus and potentially a second round of checks, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin also said he could back direct payments.
“We are going to seriously consider whether we need to make more direct payments,” Mnuchin said at a White House press conference on Thursday. “It worked very well.”
Read more: Coronavirus stimulus checks: what it means for your taxes
Trump also said at the press conference that his administration began work on the next stimulus phase, but it was unclear whether the additional unemployment benefits under the CARES Act would be extended or whether there would be a more direct payment to Americans.
Under the CARES Act enacted in March, the government sent $ 270 billion in stimulus checks as of May 31 to more than 160 million Americans. Each payment is worth up to $ 1,200 per qualifying adult, plus a $ 500 bonus for children under 17. The law also added an additional $ 600 a week in unemployment benefits due in late July.
Mnuchin added that a second round of stimulus payments would be sent only to “legal Americans.”
The $ 3 billion HEROES Act, which was passed by the House in May and has been delayed in the Republican-dominated Senate, proposed a direct payment of $ 1,200 per person with a maximum amount of $ 6,000 per household.
Read more: Coronavirus stimulus checks: how to use your debit card
Payments under the Act would also have been available to those with Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITINs) and their families. That means more than 4.3 million adults and 3.5 million children would be eligible for payment compared to the first round, according to ITEP.
In the first round of encouragement, people without a Social Security number and nonresident aliens, those who are not US citizens or US citizens AND do not have a green card or have not passed the test of substantial presence, were not eligible for payments
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Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin
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Steven Mnuchin, nominated by President-elect Trump for Treasury Secretary, testifies during his Senate Finance Committee confirmation hearing in the Dirksen Building on January 19, 2017.
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Treasury Secretary nominee Steven Mnuchin sits with Vanessa Trump (R), wife of Donald Trump Jr, before an oath ceremony for senior staff at the White House in Washington, DC on January 22, 2017 .
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Steven Mnuchin, nominated by the incoming Trump Administration Secretary of the Treasury, leaves after working in a simulated crisis scenario during transition meetings in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building at the White House in Washington, USA. , January 13, 2017.
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Producer Steve Bing (left) and honoree Steven Mnuchin, winner of the Philanthropic Leadership Award, attend The Kaleidoscope Ball – Designing The Future to benefit the UCLA Institute for Child Discovery and Innovation at UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital at Beverly Hills Hotel on April 17, 2013 in Beverly Hills, California.
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Steven Mnuchin, Treasury Secretary-nominee for President of the United States Donald Trump, right, attends an oath ceremony for senior White House staff in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, USA. USA, Sunday January 22, 2017. Trump today mocked protesters who gathered on Saturday for large demonstrations across the United States and the world to signal discontent with his leadership, but then offered a more conciliatory tone, saying that he recognized such marches as a hallmark of our democracy.
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Steve Mnuchin and Lousie Linton arrive at the premiere of Warner Bros. Pictures’ ‘Jupiter Ascending’ at the TCL Chinese Theater on February 2, 2015 in Hollywood, California.
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Heather Mnuchin and Steve Mnuchin attend The Art Show Gala to benefit The Henry Street Settlement at The Seventh Regiment Armory on February 23, 2005 in New York City.
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Treasury Secretary nominee Steven Mnuchin attends the inaugural parade of United States President Donald Trump in Washington on January 20, 2017. Donald Trump was previously sworn in as the 45th President of the United States.
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Donald Trumps Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin arrives at the west front of the United States Capitol on January 20, 2017 in Washington, DC. At today’s inauguration ceremony, Donald J. Trump becomes the 45th President of the United States.
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On Thursday, Mnuchin said he is discussing the need for future stimulus and is “talking to certain members of Democrats and Republicans to get ideas.”
“Our position is that legal Americans, American citizens, should receive the payments. That is our approach, ”said Mnuchin. “If people are here illegally, they will not receive financial payments”
Denitsa is a writer for Yahoo Finance and Cashay, a new personal finance website. Follow her on Twitter @denitsa_tsekova.
