Stimulus Package Could Pass Senate This Weekend — When You'll Get Checks

Cameron LeBlanc
·4 min read

The long and winding road of Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package looks like it’s finally coming to an end. But questions remain as to what will likely be in the final version of the bill.

Here’s what you need to know about where things stand in Congress, what happens next, and what it all means for the stimulus payment you’ve been promised, and when it will arrive.

What’s happening in the Senate?

In a party-line vote, the Senate voted to advance the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package yesterday. That vote opened the door for a vote-a-rama today, a process in which any member can propose an amendment, typically give a short speech and command a roll call vote of the entire chamber. It’s going to be a marathon that no one likes, one whose only real purpose is to force members into tough votes since none of the amendments are binding. But it’s part of the budget reconciliation process, and if the GOP refuses to work with the Democrats and the Democrats refuse to abolish the filibuster then it’s going to be a recurring event on the Senate calendar if the Democrats want to pass anything substantive.

What’s in the Senate bill?

On the off chance you didn’t spend 10 hours and 44 minutes listening to the Senate clerks read all 628 pages of the bill per Sen. Ron Johnson’s petulant but orderly request, here’s some of what’s in it.

  • The third round of stimulus payments

  • An expanded child tax credit to become a monthly cash allowance

  • An extension of unemployment benefits through September

  • $350 billion for state and local government aid, some of which is earmarked for capital projects

  • $130 billion to help reopen schools and colleges

  • $30 billion in assistance for renters and landlords

  • $50 billion for small business assistance

  • $160 billion for vaccine development and distribution

After early talks with Republicans didn’t go anywhere, Biden and Senate Dems elected to use the budget reconciliation process, so the bill as it currently stands is the product of intraparty deliberation, not a bipartisan process.

What isn’t in the bill?

The big thing that’s missing from the version of the bill the Senate is debating today is a gradual, long-overdue minimum wage increase to $15 an hour. The Senate parliamentarian advised the Democrats, in a non-binding ruling, that it wasn’t allowed under the rules of budget reconciliation. Sen. Bernie Sanders will offer the minimum wage as an amendment during vote-a-rama.

Also missing are the original more generous versions of the stimulus payment. The stimulus was trimmed from $2,000 to $1,400, then the upper-income limit was lowered to $100,000, and then it was lowered to $80,000, cutting 12 million people off from the benefit.

The unemployment benefit was supposed to increase the weekly payment to $400 and extend the benefit through August. But at the last minute, the structure of the program was changed and is now a $300/week payment that will be extended through September. However, according to some analysts, although this looks like a less generous offer in the stimulus package, it could actually put more cash in people’s pockets.

Elizabeth Pancotti, a policy director at Employ America, noted that while $2,400 in federal pandemic unemployment insurance was deducted from the bill, the average worker, with the combination of longer-running unemployment insurance and more tax forgiveness, will have about $1,620 more in their wallets than in the House version of the bill.

Will it pass the Senate?

Almost certainly. No member of the Democrat caucus, even the progressives peeved at the conservative changes to the bill, wants to block the entire massive bill for both policy and political reasons. There’s even an outside shot that Sen. Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska, could vote for the bill, which provides more funding for the tourism industry and aid to smaller population states, two of her priorities.

What happens next?

Assuming the Senate passes the bill, likely on Saturday morning, it will go back to the House, which has to approve the Senate’s version of the bill, which differs from the one it already passed. They will likely pass it again next week, the final step before Biden can sign it into law by March 14th — which is when you can expect stimulus checks to start going out.

His next legislative priority? A plan to correct the abysmal state of America’s infrastructure.

Related Articles:

The post COVID-19 Relief Package Could Finally Pass the Senate This Weekend appeared first on Fatherly.

Recommended Stories

  • Congressman: Stimulus checks will still go to the 'bulk' of people who need them

    Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi says $1,400 stimulus checks will still go to the bulk of people who need them, even after Senate changes that make fewer people eligible.

  • New stimulus check thresholds would leave 12 million adults without payments

    Narrower income requirements for the next round of stimulus checks would mean 11.8 million fewer adults and 4.6 million fewer children would get payments.

  • The hopeful news for Social Security buried in the $1.9 trillion bailout

    Nobody’s noticed, but there may be a glimmer of hope for Social Security in the gigantic “rescue” package currently going through Congress. Lawmakers have moved to include in the bill an unrelated $86 billion bailout for bankrupt union pension plans. On the other hand, if Congress tries to weasel out of fully funding Social Security in a few years’ time, this rescue of private sector union pensions is going to look like an outrage.

  • Report: Blake Griffin agrees to buyout with Pistons, becomes unrestricted free agent

    Griffin has reportedly drawn interest from most of the top playoff contenders.

  • DeVos appointee who oversaw America’s student-loan portfolio resigns as Biden education secretary pledges to ease student-debt burden

    Mark Brown's resignation came after calls for new leadership from Senator Elizabeth Warren and borrower advocates.

  • Senate bill narrows who can receive $1,400 stimulus checks. Here’s who’s eligible

    It's estimated that the change to the bill will affect more than 7 million families across the United States.

  • Live stimulus updates: Senate Democrats reach deal to keep weekly unemployment benefit at $300 per week

    Biden and Democratic leaders are pushing for passage before March 14 when unemployment benefits approved under an earlier relief bill expire.

  • Spring break crowd storms Fort Lauderdale beach — COVID or not

    FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Thong bikinis, cold beer and maskless throngs. That’s how spring break looked Thursday on the famous Fort Lauderdale strip, just days into the start of the popular college pasttime that lasts into April. Universities across the country canceled spring break to discourage college coeds from spreading the coronavirus. But judging from the crowds hitting the beach, the ...

  • NBA MVP watch: It's Joel Embiid’s award to lose at the All-Star break

    The 7-footer is dominating both ends of the floor so efficiently and doing it with guard-like moves.

  • How stimulus checks can give you a $14,000 windfall this year

    Some households are collecting a big pile of federal money in 2021.

  • Joe Biden's stimulus check changes: Do you still qualify for $1,400?

    The president has agreed to a compromise making millions ineligible for the third checks.

  • Democrats plan to cut jobless aid to $300 a week, make some benefits non-taxable

    Senate Democrats plan to lower the weekly unemployment boost to $300 per week, while extending the enhanced benefits by a month in the next COVID relief package.

  • Israel postpones drive to vaccinate Palestinian workers

    Israel on Friday postponed plans to vaccinate Palestinians who work inside the country and its West Bank settlements until further notice. COGAT, the Israeli military agency coordinating day-to-day affairs with the Palestinian Authority, attributed the postponement to “administrative delays,” adding that a new start date for the campaign would be determined later. The vaccination program was supposed to begin on Sunday at West Bank crossings into Israel and at Israeli industrial zones.

  • UK finds missing case of Brazil variant, says no sign it has spread

    English health authorities have tracked down a previously-unidentified person who tested positive for a variant of COVID-19 first identified in northern Brazil, and said there were no signs the person had spread the virus. Health officials had said on Sunday they had not been able to account for one of six cases in the country of the highly transmissible Brazil variant, known as P1. "We've successfully identified the person in question," health minister Matt Hancock told a news conference on Friday.

  • Capitol riots: Who has the FBI arrested so far?

    Suspects include a state lawmaker, a firefighter, a florist and the son of a New York judge.

  • Nasa's Perseverance rover takes its first drive on Mars

    The one-tonne robot wiggles its wheels before rolling forwards across Jezero Crater's dusty terrain.

  • Detroit's mayor rejected a shipment of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Experts say that's nuts.

    Experts feared the Johnson & Johnson vaccine's slightly lower efficacy rate would lead to an impression of a two-tiered system. That has been exactly the case in Detroit, where the mayor just rejected a shipment of the company's vaccine. CNN reports that Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan (D) declined an allocation of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine this week, saying the other available vaccines are better. "Johnson & Johnson is a very good vaccine. Moderna and Pfizer are the best," he said. "And I am going to do everything I can to make sure the residents of the City of Detroit get the best." Stat News' Matthew Herper called this a "bad plan." It's true that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine trials showed a 72 percent efficacy rate, while Moderna and Pfizer, the two other approved coronavirus vaccines, have a rate of about 95 percent. But health experts say it's still an excellent option, and has other perks like only requiring a single shot and frequently leading to fewer side effects, reports The New York Times. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government's top infectious disease expert, said people shouldn't overthink which one to get, and explained the vaccines can't really be compared head-to-head because of different trial circumstances. Besides, experts note, the raw numbers don't show the full picture. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine prevented all hospitalizations and deaths in its large clinical trial, meaning the slightly lower efficacy rate really only points to mild to moderate disease. Detroit's mayor, however, said the city has been able to meet demand with just its supply of Pfizer and Moderna doses, but CNN notes Duggan's administration only expanded vaccine eligibility to residents ages 50 and older with chronic medical conditions on Thursday. Duggan said he would accept Johnson & Johnson doses later on if all other doses are distributed and there are remaining residents who want a vaccine. More stories from theweek.comWhy the Dr. Seuss 'cancellation' is chillingWhat Republicans talk about when they talk about the 'working class'7 scathingly funny cartoons about Trump's CPAC appearance

  • ‘Bugger it’ - NZ's Ardern curses quakes and COVID

    "Bugger it. Pretty much what everyone else thought at that time. But you know, this is as the minister has said, these are, we are the Shaky Isles," Ardern said in response to a question from a journalist about dealing with a pandemic and an earthquake at the same time.Earlier on Friday, workers, students and residents in areas like Northland and Bay of Plenty, on the northern coast near Auckland, fled beachside towns for higher ground after the three quakes, striking in an eight-hour period, triggered blaring tsunami sirens and warnings to evacuate via text messages.Finally at around 3.45 p.m. (0245 GMT) the country's NEMA issued a cancellation of the tsunami warnings across the country, and evacuees left the higher grounds.

  • Exclusive: Oxford study indicates AstraZeneca effective against Brazil variant, source says

    Preliminary data from a study conducted at the University of Oxford indicates that the COVID-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca PLC is effective against the P1, or Brazilian, variant, a source with knowledge of the study told Reuters on Friday. The data indicates that the vaccine will not need to be modified in order to protect against the variant, which is believed to have originated in the Amazonian city of Manaus, said the source, who requested anonymity as the results have not yet been made public. The source did not provide the exact efficacy of the vaccine against the variant.

  • Boris Johnson challenges EU after Italy blocks Covid vaccines shipment to Australia

    Boris Johnson has challenged the EU's decision to approve the blockade of 250,000 AstraZeneca vaccines destined for Australia, warning that the restrictions "endanger" global efforts to combat the Covid-19 pandemic. On Friday, Downing Street questioned the European Commission over its acceptance of the Italian government's decision to use EU-wide export controls to prevent the shipment from going ahead. Asked about the controversy, Mr Johnson's spokesman pointed out that Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, had previously assured the Prime Minister that the controls would not be used in this way. Speaking at the Number 10 daily lobby briefing, the spokesman said: "We're not privy to the specific agreements between other countries and vaccine manufacturers. "However, the PM spoke to President von der Leyen earlier this year, and she confirmed that the focus of their mechanism was on transparency and not intended to restrict exports by companies where they are fulfilling contractual responsibilities. "We would expect the EU to continue to stand by its commitments. The global recovery from Covid relies on international collaboration. We are all dependent on global supply chains, and putting in place restrictions endangers global efforts to fight the virus."